Israel was the host nation of the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv. The Israeli team finished third in the medal table and won sixty-two medals: eighteen gold, twenty-one silver and twenty-three bronze.[1] Over 750 athletes from 28 nations took part in the Games; the Israeli team included 53 athletes, 37 men and 15 women.[2][n 1]
Background
Israel hosted these Games. Their desire to be the host stemmed from their desire to celebrate their country's 20th birthday.[3] They got the Games after technical problems forced the Mexican government to withdraw from hosting the Games following the Olympics.[4]
Four Israeli archers competed at the Games, none won a medal.[5]
In the St. Nicholas round for paraplegic women Even-Sahav finished seventh with 524 points.[6] In the equivalent men's event Israeli athletes Feld, Kirschner and Even-Sahav finished twenty-fourth, twenty-third and twelfth respectively[7]
Twenty-seven members of the Israeli team competed in athletics events, winning thirty-two medals, nine gold, eleven silver and twelve bronze.[5]Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum won gold medals in the club throw, javelin, shot put and pentathlon and a silver medal in the discus for the host nation.[5][8] Other athletes that won multiple medals for Israel included; Halfon, who won two gold and two silver medals in women's special class field events; Ora Goldstein who won bronze medals in wheelchair racing and shot put; Mishani who took gold in the 60 metres wheelchair dash and also won four silver medals; and Siri who won two silver and four bronze medals.[5]
Nineteen table tennis players competed for Israel and won four gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Baruch Hagai won the gold medal in the men's singles C classification and teamed up with Arieh Rubin to also win gold in the doubles C.[5][9][10]
Israel entered teams in both the men's and women's wheelchair basketball events and won the gold medal in each.[5] The women's event took the form of a single pool stage with medals awarded to the top three teams. Israel won all four of their matches scoring 67 points and conceding 17.[11] The men's event featured a pool stage followed by a knockout competition. Israel beat France and the Netherlands to advance to the quarterfinals. They then beat Canada, France, for a second time, and the United States to take gold.[12][3] The Israeli team was captained by Baruch Hagai.[3]
Notes
^Data is taken from the International Paralympic Committee website and is based on information contained/sourced in the original hardcopy final results publications. Some information from earlier Paralympic Games (i.e. 1960–1984) is incomplete and is missing first names of some athletes
