Saleh Shahin (סאלח שאהין ;صلاح شاهین; born 28 October 1982) is an Israeli Paralympic medalist rower.[1][2] He is Druze, from the Arab city of Shfaram, Israel. He enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces, and served as a commander in the paratroopers. He was wounded in 2005 in a terrorist attack. Shahin represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the PR2 mixed double sculls, and won the bronze medal with Shahar Milfelder.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 28 October 1982 Shfaram, Israel | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Sabrin Shahin | ||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||
| Disability class | PR2 | ||||||||||||||
| Event | Double sculls | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Beit Halochem | ||||||||||||||
| Partner | Shahar Milfelder | ||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Dmitry Margolin and Sergey Bokarib | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| World finals | 2023 World Rowing Championships, first in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls Final B | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early and personal life
editShahin is Druze, from the Arab city of Shfaram, Israel. He and his wife have two daughters.[3] He enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces in 2003, and rose to be a commander in the paratroopers.[4][5] Speaking of Arab-Jewish coexistence, Shahin said: "I feel an inseparable part of the State of Israel, and equal among equals."[6]
Terrorist incident and injury
editOn 13 January 2005, Shahin was at work as a security guard for the Israel Airports Authority at the Karni crossing checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel border.[5][7][3] A number of terrorists from Gaza attacked the crossing, killed six Israeli civilians, wounding four others, and seriously wounding Shahin.[8][5][9] Shahin attacked the terrorists, and in his exchange of gunfire with them Shahin was injured by four bullets which crushed his left foot, and entered his left thigh tearing a main artery, hip joint, pelvis, and intestines in his abdomen.[10][11][5][3] He killed the terrorist who had shot him, as well as two other terrorists.[12][13]
Shahin received two awards for his acts of bravery in stopping the attack and pursuing an attacker.[14] He suffers from considerable limitation in his range of motion as a consequence of his injuries.[3]
Rowing career
editHis club is Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv, Israel. Shahin trains at the Daniel Rowing Centre and on the banks of the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, and his coaches are Dmitry Margolin and Sergey Bokarib.[15][1] He practices twice a day, six days a week.[16] He is 1.95 meters (6 feet, 5 inches) tall.[5]
His rowing partner is Jewish-Israeli Shahar Milfelder, who is 15 years his junior, at 16 years old was diagnosed with cancer, and half of her pelvis was removed.[6] At the 2019 World Rowing Cup III, they won a gold medal in the PR3 Mixed Double Sculls (FA). At the 2023 World Rowing Championships, they came in first in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls Final B. At the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Switzerland, they won a silver medal in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls and qualified for the 2024 Paralympics.[8][17][7][18]
Shahin represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the PR2 mixed double sculls.[19] He won the bronze medal with Shahar Milfelder, with a time of 8:31.85, 13 seconds behind gold medalist Great Britain.[20][21][22] He said that at the start of their race, he heard the Israeli national anthem, and was in tears,[22] as earlier that morning the bodies of six killed Israeli hostages had been recovered in Gaza.[22]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Shahin Saleh". Paris 2024 Paralympics.
- ^ Merlin, Ohad (4 June 2024). "Druze rower qualifies for Paralympic games with Jewish counterpart". The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ a b c d "Makers for Heroes; Saleh Shahin," Restart.
- ^ "Beit Halochem athletes are going to the Paralympics!," Beit Halochem Canada, 7 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Druze rower qualifies for Paralympic games with Jewish counterpart' Injured in a terror attack in 2005, Saleh Shaheen’s story is one of resilience, persistence and trust," The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ a b Dotan Malach (28 August 2024). "Saleh Shahin and Shahar Milfeder dream of bringing a medal together," Makor Rishon.
- ^ a b Eliana Jordan (9 August 2024). "Meet the Jewish and Israeli athletes competing in the 2024 Paralympics," The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ a b Oren Aharoni (26 May 2024). "Without the injury I might not have been at the Paralympic Games in Paris – that's my destiny," Israel HaYom.
- ^ Amy Spiro (1 September 2024). "Rowers take gold, bronze as Israel continues to rack up Paralympic medals; Champ Moran Samuel says the day, like the year, held mixed emotions; Druze rower Saleh Shahin, wounded in 2005 Gaza border terror attack, says he wanted to bring some ‘light’ to nation," The Times of Israel.
- ^ Stav Ifergan (1 September 2024). "Success in Paris: gold for Moran Samuel, bronze for Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin," Ynet.
- ^ Guy Laiba (1 September 2024). "The Paralympic athletes presented the most beautiful face of Israel," Ynet.
- ^ "The amazing story of Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin; The rower was a basketball player and underwent surgery to remove a pelvis due to an illness, the Druze rower was injured in the attack after eliminating three terrorists: the story of the new bronze medalists," One, 1 September 2024.
- ^ "A huge achievement: a medal for Millfelder and Shahin in the pair rowing; Amazing: the pair of Israeli rowers who came as underdogs surprised in a big way in the final of the double rowing at the Paralympic Games, when they stopped the clock in a time of 8:31.85 minutes," One, 1 September 2024.
- ^ "A significant Israeli achievement," Yoseph Haddad, 16 June 2023..
- ^ "Schwang Athlete of the Week |Saleh Shaheen; Our athlete of the week was injured in a battle with terrorists and through sports managed to rehabilitate and even managed to compete in the world championship and world cup in rowing," Shvoong, 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Sport saved Israeli Paralympian," DW, 5 September 2024 (video).
- ^ "Saleh SHAHIN," World Rowing.
- ^ "Saleh Shahin and Shahar Milfelder," INZ-org.
- ^ Amelie Botbol (28 August 2024). "The Israeli war veterans going for sporting glory at the Paralympics; ‘It is my goal to show the world how strong we are’", The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ Oren Aharoni (1 September 2024). "Gold medal in rowing for Moran Samuel, bronze for Shahin and Millfelder," Israel HaYom.
- ^ Spiro, Amy (1 September 2024). "Israeli rowing duo takes bronze for Israel at Paris Paralympics". The Times of Israel.
- ^ a b c "I will go to Millfelder and Shaheen in Paris; The pair of Israeli rowers, in their first appearance at the games, reached the podium in rowing," Mako, 1 September 2024.
External links
edit- Saleh Shahin at World Rowing
- Saleh Shahin at The-Sports.org
- Instagram page
