You are here: Home » News » Israel »

Noam Gershony: From Fighter Pilot to Gold Medalist (VIDEO)

September 9, 2012 4:35 am 4 comments

Author:

Aryeh Savir / Tazpit News Agency

Share this Article

Tags:

Israeli paralympic gold medalist Noam Gershony. Photo: FIDV.

Noam Greshony’s story is one of triumph of the spirit.

Six year after being critically wounded during the Second Lebanon War, Gershony won a gold medal at the Paralympics Games in London Saturday, playing tennis. He beat number one ranked player, American David Wagner 6:3, 6:1. When he ascended the podium to receive his medal and heard Hatikvah playing in the background he was overcome by his emotions, shedding a tear.

In 2006, During the second week of the Second Lebanon War, on July 20^th, two Apache helicopters on their way to an operation in Lebanon collided over Israel’s northern border. One pilot, Major Ran kochbah was killed immediately. The second pilot, Gershony, was critically wounded. He spent many months in rehabilitation, during which he discovered his love for tennis.

Now he has made it to the top, bringing Israel its first gold medal from the London Paralympics Games and the first ever in tennis. His family and friends were at the game to support him. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the 29 year old sportsman to congratulate him. President Peres contacted him as well, saying: “You have proved that you are good on the court as well as you are in the sky – a talented Apache pilot and tennis player.”

In an interview for Israeli IDF Radio Gershony said: “This was not my best game, but I am glad I was not surprised by my opponent. I was nervous and stressed out, but I am happy I was able to win. All my family and friends came to support me, and I didn’t want to let them down, so I won. Every minute felt like a year, and I lost some fifty years of my life. But everything is over now, and now I can relax…I don’t know if it had an affect on me, the fact that I was wounded for the country, giving my life and body for her. I would do it all over again, even if I knew that this would be the outcome. This may have made me happier, the fact that I am able to bring so much pride to the country.”

A video of Gershony’s medal ceremony can be watched below.

4 Comments

miriam Gestetner

December 27, 2012
7:57 pm

Dear Noam,
Here in Canada, also, we are so proud of you, that after all, that you went through, you keep your head up, and go for the WIN!
You are not even so exited to be winning, if it would not have been, for our country and your Family!
May H’ give you Koach and hold your hand, all through your life!!!
You should be able to reach, all your goals!
Very best wishes
Shami and Miriam

Reply
Monika

September 25, 2012
10:04 am

What an inspirational person. Very moving ceremony.

Reply
Isaac

September 22, 2012
11:03 pm

Bravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo BravoBravo Bravo Bravo Bravo Bravo

Reply
rofedoc

September 9, 2012
8:36 pm

Kol HaKavod

Reply

Please note: comments may be published in the Algemeiner print edition.

Click here to cancel reply.

More...

Personalities Sports
NBA Finals a Time to Remember Legendary Jewish Coach Red Auerbach

JNS.org - At the start of each nationally televised game of the 2013 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat, ABChas aired a film-clip montage of basketball’s great players and coaches—a montage that includes Jewish coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach, the mastermind behind nine championship teams for the Boston Celtics. Red was one of four children of Marie and Hyman Auerbach. Hyman was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who left Belarus when he was 13. The couple owned a deli and [...]
Read more →
Arts and Culture Jewish History
The Marx Brothers and Jewish Identity

JNS.org - The sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and France, the Marx Brothers became zany masters of stage and screen who continue to captivate audiences. But in addition to providing comic relief, their films captured the drama of the entry of their marginalized religion into the U.S. Wayne Koestenbaum, author of the 2012 book The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, explains that the Marx Brothers’ Jewishness as a family “was evident, marked, thoroughly legible.” “Within a family already marked as Jewish within [...]
Read more →
Arts and Culture Jewish Identity
SuperJew

For my shekels, the question of whether the comic book character Superman, is Jewish or not shouldn’t even be questioned. Born and named Kal-El by his father Jor-El, “El” is one of the ancient names for God used throughout the bible and found in great prophets such as Samue-el, Dani-el and angels Micha-el and Gavri-el and of course, Isra-el. As Simcha Weinstein in his entertaining book, “Up, Up And Oy Vey” points out, “Kal” is the root of several Hebrew [...]
Read more →
Israel Sports
Formula 1 Road Show Thrills Jerusalem

JNS.org – Some 100,000 people attended Israel’s first-ever Formula 1 Road Show in Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday. For several hours, the controversies that normally characterize Jerusalem were put aside, and a diverse mosaic of Israelis watched up close as the motor-sport stars temporarily conquered the city. “It was an amazing experience, the most fast and furious thing I have seen,” spectator Masada Porat told Israel Hayom. “It was a rare, extreme event that explodes in your face.” Spectator Irena [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Jewish Identity
Klara’s Journey Casts Jews in Fast-Paced Adventure Through Russian History

JNS.org – “If you’re sick, move away. Have some consideration for others,” a red army soldier scolds a slow-moving old man selling train tickets. “No, fires back the old man, proud, haughty, not realizing it’s a new country, a Bolshevik country where force heads the list instead of civility,” reads the following line in Ben G. Frank’s new novel, Klara’s Journey, released June 1. Reminiscent of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago—whose backdrop is also a train ride across the Russian frontier during the [...]
Read more →
Personalities Theater
Nora Ephron, Famed Jewish Screenwriter, Remembered Through Tribeca Film Festival Prize

JNS.org – For filmmaker Meera Menon, no honor could have been more fitting than winning the inaugural award named after famed Jewish screenwriter and novelist Nora Ephron, the woman whose work inspired her. At the recent 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, Menon was named the first recipient of the $25,000 Nora Ephron Prize, given to a writer or director whose work embodies that of the late Ephron, who wrote the scripts for a number of hit films, including “When Harry Met [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Personalities
Book Review: ‘Jewish Jordan’ Memoir an Important Guide for Players and Coaches

JNS.org – Despite his friends’ and family’s doubts that a young Orthodox Jewish athlete could ever play college or professional basketball without compromising his religious values, between 1999 and 2009 the “Jewish Jordan” defied conventional wisdom and found his place on the court. In his new memoir, Jewish Jordan’s Triple Threat, Tamir Goodman describes his triumphs and disappointments in life, crediting his practice of Judaism for shaping his identity as an athlete and his understanding of basketball as a team sport. [...]
Read more →
Blogs Sports
Omri Casspi, ‘Jewish Jordan’ Partner on Basketball Camps to Inspire Youths On and Off the Court

Tamir Goodman (left) and NBA forward Omri Casspi—pictured on the court of the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls—together run basketball camps that seek to inspire youths on and off the court. Photo: Courtesy Tamir Goodman. JNS.org – Before last year, basketball camps for Jewish youths never had an instructor quite like Omri Casspi, a forward for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers and the first Israeli-born player in NBA history. Casspi is a de facto ambassador for [...]
Read more →