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3850-Inbal Pezaro photo

Inbal Pezaro

Israeli flag
Israel
Swimming
3
8
5

Biography

Impairment information

Origin of Impairment
Congenital
Classification
S5, SB4, SM5

Further personal information

Residence
Nazerat, ISR
Languages
Hebrew, English
Higher education
Biochemistry - Technion-Israel Institute of Technology: Haifa, ISR

Sport specific information

When and where did you begin this sport?
She began swimming at age five at the Ilan Sport Center club in Haifa, Israel.
Why this sport?
The sport was part of her rehabilitation.

International debut

Year
2001
Competing for
Israel
Tournament
European Championships
Location
Stockholm, SWE

General interest

Nicknames
Buli (Athlete, 26 Aug 2010)
Hobbies
Skiing. (jpost.com, 04 Apr 2018)
Sporting philosophy / motto
"I have had a lot of crisis moments and question marks as I progressed in my career. There were a lot of barriers I encountered, and I had to ask myself lots of questions, like why do I do what I do? What do I enjoy? And how can I learn to enjoy hard work? These crises only strengthened my motivation to keep going, because I understood what I wanted to achieve and what my goal was. I can say that today I am very focused and know that I am doing what I do for the right reasons. I'm capable of setting a goal and reaching it. It sounds elemental, but for a dream to be realised I should at least know that I did everything I could to succeed. The worst thing that could happen is for me to know what I want but not to try. It is totally up to me." (haimbaemek.co.il, 20 Aug 2019)
Awards and honours
She was named Israeli Sports Personality of the Year in 2008 by the Jerusalem Post newspaper. (jpost.com, 22 Dec 2017)
Impairment
She was born with a spinal condition that affects the use of her legs. (infolive.tv, 09 Aug 2008)
Other information
RETIREMENT
She announced her retirement from competitive swimming in July 2020. "Swimming was my life, in the water I felt I could fly, the harder it was the more I loved it. There was always a direct relationship between what I gave of myself and what I achieved. It is no longer so. I can no longer be the athlete I set for myself to be." (davar1.co.il, 07 Jul 2020)

GROWING UP ON A KIBBUTZ
She has fond memories of growing up on a kibbutz, a self-sufficient commune, which helped her adapt to her impairment. "My childhood on the kibbutz was amazing. We were 12 children, six boys and six girls, and because we grew up together the other kids saw my disability as nothing unusual. Like siblings, we were a very cohesive group. I never had social problems on the kibbutz. I was treated just like the other children and I did everything like everyone else. [But] spending time with other children with disabilities, who were no different from me, also helped me to cope and gave me an environment to flourish in." (haimbaemek.co.il, 20 Aug 2019)

FURTHER STUDIES
In 2019 she was studying a postgraduate qualification in psychology and business administration at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, Israel. (haimbaemek.co.il, 20 Aug 2019; jpost.com, 04 Apr 2018)

Results

Unit Date Rank
IPC Swimming World Championships Mar del Plata 2002 (Mar del Plata, Argentina)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heats 4
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 5
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heats 5
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 5
Women's 50 m Backstroke S5 Heats 5
Women's 50 m Backstroke S5 Final Round 5
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 1
IPC Swimming World Championships Durban 2006 (Durban, South Africa)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heats 2
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heats 4
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 4
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heats 4
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heats 2
Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games (Beijing, China)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 4
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 1
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heat 1 1
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 2
IPC Swimming World Championships Eindhoven 2010 (Eindhoven, Netherlands)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heat 1 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 1
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 1
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2
Athens 2004 Paralympic Games (Athens, Greece)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 3
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 5
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 3
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 4
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 3
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heat 2 2
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 2
London 2012 Paralympic Games (London, Great Britain)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2012-08-30 2
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2012-08-30 3
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2012-09-01 3
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2012-09-01 1
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heat 1 2012-09-04 2
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 2012-09-04 4
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2012-09-08 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2012-09-08 3
2013 IPC Swimming World Championships (Montreal, Canada)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2013-08-13 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2013-08-17 4
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2013-08-17 4
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2013-08-18 4
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2013-08-18 3
2015 IPC Swimming World Championships (Glasgow, Great Britain)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Mixed 4x50 m Freestyle 20pts Heat 1 2015-07-13 9
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2015-07-15 2
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2015-07-15 2
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2015-07-17 3
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2015-07-17 3
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM5 Final 1 2015-07-18 2
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM5 Heat 1 2015-07-18 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2015-07-19 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2015-07-19 4
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2016-09-08 1
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2016-09-08 5
Mixed 4x50 m Freestyle 20pts Final Round 2016-09-09 9999
Mixed 4x50 m Freestyle 20pts Heat 1 2016-09-09 3
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Heat 1 2016-09-11 2
Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB4 Final Round 2016-09-11 6
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2016-09-12 6
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2016-09-12 3
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM5 Final Round 2016-09-15 3
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM5 Heat 1 2016-09-15 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2016-09-17 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final Round 2016-09-17 5
Mexico City 2017 World Para Swimming Championships (Mexico City, Mexico)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Heat 1 2017-12-02 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2017-12-02 3
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Heat 2 2017-12-05 3
Women's 50 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2017-12-05 3
Women's 200 m Freestyle S5 Final 1 2017-12-06 4