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The 2024 Paris Paralympics concluded Sunday, bringing to an end a summer full of athletic success for Jewish and Israeli competitors on the international stage.
Weeks after at least 21 Jewish athletes won a total of 18 medals at the Olympics, 15 Jewish and Israeli Paralympians racked up 13 medals of their own.
Israel won 10 medals – four gold, four bronze and two silver – its first double-digit medal count since the 2004 Athens Games. Swimmer Ami Dadaon led the way with four medals of his own, including two golds. Israel’s victories came as the country weathered tragedy and political upheaval at home.
For the United States, track and field star Ezra Frech enjoyed a breakout performance, winning golds on back-to-back days, the first two medals in a career he told NBC he hopes will make him “the greatest Paralympian of all time.”
Read on for all the Jewish and Israeli Paralympic medalists in Paris, listed in order of medal type.
Gold medalists
Ami Dadaon (two gold, one silver, one bronze)
Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon led all Jewish Paralympians by medaling in four of his five events, bringing his career total to seven. Dadaon, 23, won gold in both the men’s 100-meter freestyle S4 and the men’s 200-meter freestyle S4. He set a new Paralympic record during heats for the 100-meter event, an event in which he also owns the world record for his disability classification.
Ezra Frech (two gold medals)
U.S. track and field standout Ezra Frech won his first-ever Paralympic medals, both gold, in the men’s 100-meter T63 and the high jump T63. Frech, 19, who was born without a left knee and shinbone and with only one finger on his left hand, captured the 100-meter gold in dramatic fashion, beating the German silver medalist by two hundredths of a second.
The following day, Frech won gold in the high jump. He had previously broken his own world record in the event during the U.S. Paralympic trials in July. His 1.94-meter jump in Paris topped the Indian silver medalist by 0.06 meters and set a new Paralympic record. With that jump, Frech was 0.03 meters shy of his world record of 1.97 meters.
Moran Samuel
Israeli rower Moran Samuel captured her first career Paralympic gold – and third medal overall – in the PR1 women’s single sculls. Samuel, 42, suffered a spinal stroke in 2006, paralyzing her lower body. “It’s a privilege to be here in this bubble at the Paralympic Games, and to finish with a gold medal – and to be able to scream the anthem from deep inside me is a moment I’ll never forget in my life,” Samuel told the Israeli broadcaster Sport5 after her win.
Bronze medalists
Malyar (one bronze)
Israeli swimmer Malyar, 24, who was born with cerebral palsy, won a bronze in the men’s 100-meter backstroke S8. Malyar had won two gold medals and a bronze in Tokyo.
Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin
Israeli rowers Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin paired up to win their first Paralympic medals in the PR2 mixed double sculls. Milfedler, 26, is a native of Moshav Beit Yitzchak in Israel who was diagnosed with a rare and serious form of bone cancer at 15 and had part of her pelvis removed. She said that she was thinking about the families of the six hostages who were confirmed dead only hours earlier when she won her bronze medal.
Guy Sasson
Just three months after he won his first career Grand Slam at the 2024 French Open, Israeli wheelchair tennis player Guy Sasson returned to the same stadium to win his first career Paralympic medal, a bronze in the wheelchair tennis quad singles tournament. Sasson, 44, beat Turkey’s Ahmet Kaplan 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the bronze medal match.
Ian Seidenfeld
American table tennis star Ian Seidenfeld won his second career Paralympic medal in Paris, a bronze in the men’s singles MS6 competition. He had won gold in Tokyo. Seidenfeld, 23, won his round of 16 and quarterfinal matches before losing in the semifinal. The Lakeville, Minn., native, who was born with Pseudoachondroplasia dwarfism, is coached by his father Mitchell Seidenfeld, a three-time Paralympian and four-time medalist.
