Ami Omer Dadaon

Ami Dadaon
Personal information
Native name	עמי עומר דדאון‎
Full name	Ami Omer Dadaon
Nationality	Israeli
Born	26 December 2000 (age 23); Haifa, Israel
Home town	Kiryat Ata, Israel
Sport
Country	Israel
Sport	Para swimming
Disability class	S4, SM4
Club	Ilan Sport Center
Coached by	Jacob Beninson
Medal record
Men's para swimming
Representing Israel
Paralympic Games
World Championships
European Championships

Ami Omer Dadaon (Hebrew: עמי עומר דדאון; sometimes written Dadon; born 26 December 2000) is an Israeli Paralympic champion and world champion swimmer. He has won four gold medals at Paralympics, seven gold medals at World Championships, and nine gold medals at European Championships. He represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, where he won two gold medals and a silver medal.^[4]

He competed for Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where he won two gold medals (in Men's 100 metre freestyle S4 and Men's 200 metre freestyle S4), a silver medal in Men's 150 metre individual medley SM4, and a bronze medal in Men's 50 metre freestyle S4.

Early life

Dadaon was born in Haifa, Israel.^[5] He was born prematurely, and was quadriplegic and had cerebral palsy from birth.^[5]^[6]^[7] He lives in Kiryat Ata, Israel.^[8]

Swimming career

Dadaon started swimming when he was six years old.^[5] He began swimming at the Israel Association for Children with Disabilities as rehabilitation therapy.^[6] In December 2017, he was awarded the Israeli Sports Award for Young Para Athlete of the Year.^[6]

He won nine gold medals at European Championships between 2018 and 2024.^[5]

Dadaon represented Israel in Swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics at 20 years of age, and won gold medals in the 50 metre freestyle S4 and 200 metre freestyle S4 (an event in which he set the world record) events, and a silver medal in the 150 metre individual medley SM4 event.^[9]

He won seven gold medals at World Championships in 2022 and 2023.^[5]

2024–present; Paris Paralympics

He competed for Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He won a gold medal at the games in the Men's 100 metre freestyle S4.^[5] He established a new Paralympic record in the heats (with a time of 1:19.33), and has the world record (with a time of 1:18.94).^[5] He said: ""I will sing Hatikvah. That's all I wanted – to represent the people of Israel in this period and to give them hope."^[10]

He has also won a gold medal in Men's 200 metre freestyle S4, a silver medal in Men's 150 metre individual medley SM4, and a bronze medal in Men's 50 metre freestyle S4.^[11] After he won his silver medal following the news that six Israeli hostages had been found dead in Gaza, he said: "It wasn’t an easy day for the people of Israel. It affected me, I live for Israel and for our country. We’re fighting on so many different fronts, but, at least on my own front, I hope I succeeded."^[11]