Paralympics

Israel

PR1 W1X / Placing: Silver

It’s only been a week since I left Tokyo, but it already feels like history. I’m at home now with my family and I love being a full-time mother.

Rowing means spending a lot of time away from home. However, Gavirate in Italy is our home away from home: Over the last ten years I have spent most of my summers there. For my children it feels like a summer camp. My eldest is five and a half; he was born seven months before the Rio Games. I'm married to a woman, so she was responsible for that (pregnancy) and I was responsible for winning a medal. We both did well!

Between Rio and Tokyo, I had two goals; the first was to get pregnant, have a baby and grow our family, and the second was to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

I hoped that I did not have to choose between motherhood and sport. I needed a lot of support to combine the two. Fortunately, I was able to make everybody understand that if I did have to choose then I would choose being a mother and put my family first.

I didn't miss a single world championship. I was nine weeks pregnant when I won a silver medal at Sarasota in 2017.

Four and a half months after giving birth I won another silver medal at Plovdiv in 2018. And at Linz in 2019 I won a bronze medal and qualified for the Paralympics. I felt lucky that as a woman I didn't have to choose between having a family and being an athlete. Sometimes for men it is easier but I'm happy that I could do it. After the pandemic it was important to get as much racing practice as possible. I competed at both the 2021 Europeans in April and another international regatta in June.

Ahead of the Paralympics we were in Italy together for six weeks. My family went back to Israel, and I stayed for another few days before flying to Tokyo.