By ILH Sports Desk—
Israeli Paralympic swimmer Iyad Shalabi won the gold medal for the 100-meter backstroke final in the S1 category at the Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday, securing the first gold for Israel in this Paralympics and also becoming the first Arab Israeli to medal for Israel.
Shalabi was born deaf and mute and was left a paraplegic after an accident he suffered when he was 13.
On Wednesday, he swam the 100 meters in 2:28.04.
Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper congratulated the swimmer for his “enormous success” in a Facebook post.
“Congratulations to our Israeli swimmer Iyad Shalabit, who won Israel’s first gold medal at the Paralympic Games. Iyad is an inspiring person, whose life is full of victories. And today was another shining one… We’re proud of you, Iyad!” Tropper wrote.
Shalabi could be awarded with a cash prize of 500,000 shekels ($155,000), like Israel’s other Olympic medalists.
