Keren Or Leybovitch
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Keren Or Leibovitch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 Israel
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| Born |
July 25, 1973 Hod HaSharon, Israel |
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| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | backstroke, freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Keren Or Leibovitch (also Keren Or Leybovitch; born July 25, 1973) is an Israeli champion Paralympic swimmer.
Leibovitch is a three-time world champion, a five-time European champion, a holder of three world records (for the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke and the 100-meter freestyle), and an eight-time Paralympic medal winner.
Leibovitch, who is Jewish, was born in Hod HaSharon in Israel. She first swam at the age of two. She studied philosophy at Tel Aviv University.
Her back was badly injured and she was disabled at the age of 18, in 1992, from an accident during her service in the Israeli Defense Forces, while training to be an officer. Leibovitch is paralyzed from the waist down. After two major operations, she still had permanent back and leg injuries. She began swimming as part of her rehabilitation.
She won three gold medals at the European Championships in Germany in 1999.
Leibovitch has competed in the Paralympic Games, a major international multi-sport event in which athletes who have a physical disability compete, which were created by Ludwig Guttmann, a German Jewish doctor who escaped from the Nazis.
Leibovitch won three gold medals in swimming at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, winning the 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter freestyle, and 50-meter freestyle events. She broke three world records along the way. Asked whom she views as her hero, she responded:
I look up to people who achieve what they set their minds to. I admire people who live at peace with themselves ... who are not afraid of what society might say ... who think to make themselves really happy. If people can relate to a disabled person as a winner, then the whole attitude towards disabled persons might change. And if I achieve that, that's my fourth medal.
She was given the honor of lighting the torch at the 2001 Maccabiah Games at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.
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Wikipedia