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)
Ami Dadaon competes in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S4 heat at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, Aug. 30, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
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, an event in which he also owns the world record for his disability classification.
Dadaon, a Haifa native who was born with cerebral palsy, also won silver in the men’s 150-meter individual medley SM4 and bronze in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4. Dadaon had entered the 50-meter competition with the world record, but it was topped in Paris by the gold medalist, Canada’s Sebastian Massabie. In his fifth event, the men’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3, Dadaon finished in fifth.
Ezra Frech (two gold medals)
Ezra Frech celebrates after the men’s high jump T63 at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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 .06 meters and set a new Paralympic record. With that jump, Frech was .03 meters shy of his world record of 1.97 meters.
After winning two gold medals in Paris, Frech has his sights set even higher for the 2028 Games, which will take place in his hometown of Los Angeles. Frech said he hopes to earn what he calls the “triple crown” — winning gold in the long jump, high jump, and 100-meter sprint. Frech finished fifth in the long jump in Paris.
Moran Samuel
Moran Samuel celebrates after winning gold in the PR1 women’s single sculls at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Sept. 1, 2024. (Hou Zhaokang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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.
Asaf Yasur
Asaf Yasur celebrates victory against Ali Can Ozcan of Turkey in the men’s K44 – 58-kilogram gold medal contest at the 2024 Paris Summer Paralympic Games, Aug. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Martial artist Asaf Yasur was the first Israeli athlete to medal in Paris, winning a gold in the men’s 58-kilogram K44 taekwondo competition. He defeated Turkish opponent Ali Can Ozcan by a score of 19-12 in the gold medal match after winning his quarterfinal and semifinal matches 23-6 and 16-6, respectively.
Yasur, 22, is a two-time world champion who made his Paralympic debut this summer. Both of Yasur’s hands were amputated when he was 13 years old after an electrocution accident.
Silver medalists
Israel’s women’s goalball team
Israeli players during the goalball gold medal match between Israel and Turkey at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, Sept. 5, 2024, in Paris. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
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