Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon won the bronze medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4 event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, securing his fourth medal in five events.
Dadaon, 23, finished in third place with a time of 37.11 seconds, behind Japan’s Takayuki Suzuki and Canada’s Sebastian Massabie. Despite holding the world record of 36.25 seconds set in 2022, Massabie surpassed it with a time of 35.61.
This bronze medal marks Israel’s 10th medal in Paris, exceeding the total of nine medals won in Tokyo and achieving Israel’s first double-digit Paralympic medal performance since the 2004 Athens Games. Israel now holds a total of 394 Paralympic medals since the inaugural event in 1960.
Competing in five events in Paris, Dadaon, who was born with cerebral palsy, previously claimed gold in the men’s 200-meter freestyle S4 and the men’s 100-meter freestyle S4, as well as silver in the men’s 150-meter individual medley SM4. In his fifth event, the men’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3, he finished fifth. Dadaon set a Paralympic record in the heats for the 100-meter freestyle.
Another Israeli swimmer, Ariel Malyar, also made it to the final in the 50-meter freestyle, finishing in seventh place.
Hailing from Haifa, Dadaon began swimming at the age of 6. He has previously won three medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, including two gold medals, seven gold medals at World Championships in 2022 and 2023, and nine gold medals at European Championships from 2018 to 2024.
Dadaon, also known as Dadon in English, was named the Israeli Paralympic sportsman of the year in 2023.
Israel has the opportunity to increase its medal count in swimming and canoeing events over the weekend, as the Games come to a close on Sunday.