The Last Word: Inbal Pezaro is an example to us all

It has been both a surprise and delight that the Paralympic Games has created an Israeli star.

By JEREMY LAST
jeremy last 88 (photo credit: )
jeremy last 88
(photo credit: )
At the start of January, just a few days after Shahar Pe'er was deservedly voted The Jerusalem Post's Israeli Sports Personality of 2007 by readers of this newspaper, my mind turned to the year ahead. Being an Olympic year, I was sure that one of Israel's top (able bodied) Olympians would stand out at the Beijing Games, making us proud and proving him or herself to be a favorite for the 2008 award. Unfortunately, the regular Olympic Games turned out to be mostly a failure for most of our best athletes. Tennis stars Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich fell at the first hurdle, as did judoka Arik Ze'evi and pole vaulter Alex Averbukh. Only Shahar Zubari made any kind of impression and that was in just about clinching the bronze medal in the windsurfing. So it has been both a surprise and delight that the far less popular Paralympic Games has created an Israeli star who will undoubtedly be one of the six nominated finalists for the Post's Israeli Sports Personality of 2008. Disabled swimmer Inbal Pezaro has been nothing but an inspiration to the nation these past few weeks, her three silver medals in the pool amounting to half of Team Israel's final total. That the Israelis won 13 medals, including four golds, in Athens four years ago compared to just six and no golds this time around could indicate that the Beijing Paralympics were less than a success in '08. But Pezaro's performance where she won silver in the 100 meters freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m breastroke, coupled with her wonderfully positive attitude, has quite rightly catapulted the Paralympian, and the Paralympics, into the Israeli consciousness. The 21-year-old is now a veteran of two Paralympic Games and has won four medals after taking silver in the 100m breast stroke four years ago. She is an example to us all of the rewards that can be gained by focusing on perseverance over adversity. Having been born with a blood problem in her spinal cord which caused her to become crippled in her lower limbs, Pezaro always looked beyond her disability. She began swimming at the age of five, never gave up and is now a national and world champion - a true inspiration. jeremylast@gmail.com