Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | Israeli | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1982-04-24) 24 April 1982 (age 42) Karmiel, Israel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Physiotherapy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Haifa, Israel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Athlete | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Wife Limor Samuel Goldberg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Israel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability | PR1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Daniel Rowing Centre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Paola Grizzetti , ITA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paralympic finals | Winning silver in the arms only single sculls at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World finals | the 2015 Para Athlete of the Year by World Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Moran Samuel (Hebrew: מורן סמואל; April 24, 1982) is an Israeli paralympic basketball player and world champion rower. She was chosen to light a ceremonial torch on Israel's Independence Day in 2019. She represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She won a gold medal competing for Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the Women's single sculls.
Early life
Samuel grew up in Karmiel, Israel, in a Jewish family. She began playing basketball in her hometown. During her military service in the Israeli Air Force, she was an outstanding athlete enrolled in a program that permits top athletes to complete their mandatory service while representing the country in sports as well; after her service, she played on the Israel women's national basketball team.
In 2006, Samuel suffered a spinal stroke and became paralyzed in her lower body. After she recovered, she completed her academic studies at Haifa University and became a physical therapist, and then worked with the Paralympic Sports Association team on the re-establishment of the Israeli women's basketball team on wheelchairs.
Sports career
Basketball
Playing with the national women's basketball team, she qualified for the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship, held in Nazareth in 2011, and simultaneously joined the Beit HaLohem team in Tel Aviv, with Samuel being the sole woman in an all-male team. Beit LaLohem won the double championship in 2011. In 2013, she played for Israel at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Frankfurt, with the team finishing in the seventh place overall. At this competition, she was voted one of the five best players in Europe titled "All Star Team".
Rowing
Samuel switched to Para rowing because she wanted to represent Israel at the Paralympic Games.
As part of her paralympic sport activities, and as suggested by her life partner, also a rower, Samuel started to train in rowing in 2010 and represented Israel at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London, finishing fifth. Earlier that year, she won a race in single scull competition at the Adaptive Rowing Regatte in Gavirate, Italy, but the organizers did not have a copy of the Hatikva, Israel's national anthem; she asked for the microphone and sang it instead. In 2015, she won the gold medal at the World Cup event in Lake Varese, defeating the reigning world champion, Norwegian rower Birgit Skarstein.
At the 2015 World Rowing Championships held in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, Samuel won the gold medal in the women's AS single sculls, thus earning a spot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Also, she received the bronze medal in June 2016 at the World Rowing Cup in Poznań.
Samuel took part in the torch-lighting ceremony at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in July 2017.
Samuel won the silver medal in the arms-only single sculls at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo. It was after setting her personal best record in the repechage the day before.
2024 Paris Paralympics
She won a gold medal competing for Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the Women's single sculls. She said: "we started today with terrible news ... I told myself, ‘Moran, this is due to, this is because of and this is despite'” the difficult situation facing Israel at home. 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... I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to sing the anthem… I hope everyone comes home."
Personal life
Samuel is a lesbian. She and her wife have 2 children.
See also
- List of 2024 Summer Paralympics medal winners
- List of LGBT Olympians and Paralympians
- List of Paralympic medalists in rowing
References
- ^ "Athletics SAMUEL Moran". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 24 August 2021. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- World Rowing. "Moran Samuel". Retrieved 29 February 2016.
- ^ Moran Samuel: Paralympic rower, part-time basketball champ. Jerusalem Post
- "Moran Samuel: Paralympic rower, part-time basketball champ". The Jerusalem Post. 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ Tales of tragedy, trauma and inspiration behind Israel’s Paralympic medal hopes. Times of Israel timesofisrael Retrieved 17 August 2021
- "Moran Samuel". www.wizo.org. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- Moran Samuel. WIZO
- Llegó el final del Campeonato de Europa BSR. ¡¡¡SOMOS BRONCE!!! Crónica. Archived 21 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- "Champion rower can sing, too". Times of Israel. 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- "Israeli paralympic rower Moran Samuel wins gold medal at World Cup". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- "Moran Samuel named Female Athlete of the Year at Israeli Paralympic Committee annual awards". insidethegames.biz. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- "Moran Samuel clinches right to represent Israel in Rio; goes for Worlds medal". Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- "Sport Week: Samuel balances motherhood, training". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- "Ervin, Gilot To Participate In Torch Lighting At Maccabiah Games". SwimSwam. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- "Rowing - Final A Results". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 29 August 2021. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- Rakovsky, Ido (2024-08-29). "Paris 2024 Paralympics: The Israeli Athletes to Look Out For". Haaretz.
- ^ "Rowers take gold, bronze as Israel continues to rack up Paralympic medals; Champ Moran Samuel says the day, like the year, held mixed emotions; Druze rower Saleh Shahin, wounded in 2005 Gaza border terror attack, says he wanted to bring some ‘light’ to nation," The Times of Israel.
- "Israeli lesbian rower set for Paralympics". 5 September 2016.
- "Paralympic Rowing Medallist and Mother of Three – Moran Samuel on Uniting Two Lives". European Championships. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
External links
- Moran Samuel at FIBA.com (archived)
- Moran Samuel at World Rowing
- Moran Samuel at Paralympic.org
- Moran Samuel on Instagram
- 1982 births
- Living people
- Israeli female rowers
- Israeli lesbian sportswomen
- Israeli women's basketball players
- Jewish basketball players
- Jewish Israeli sportspeople
- LGBTQ basketball players
- LGBTQ rowers
- Lesbian Jews
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
- Paralympic rowers for Israel
- Paralympic medalists in rowing
- Paralympic gold medalists for Israel
- Paralympic silver medalists for Israel
- Paralympic bronze medalists for Israel
- Rowers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Rowers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Rowers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
- Sportspeople from Tel Aviv
- World Rowing Championships medalists for Israel