Inbal Pezaro claimed Israel's first medal of the 2012 London Paralympic Games on Thursday night and told the Jewish News how proud she was to win her country's first medal in London.
The 25-year-old won bronze in the 50m Freestyle race at the Aquatics Centre - her sixth Paralympic medal to date - having won a silver and bronze medal in Athens in 2004 and three silvers in Beijing in 2008.
She said: "It makes me very proud to have won Israel's first medal. It's amazing and was also one of the things I thought about before the race. As it was the first day of the Games it was important for me to feel that I started the competition for the whole team and I'm happy I did, I would have felt like I'd disappointed the group if I swam badly."Her first medal win at this distance, it was also an important victory for her as she feels it can now set her up for her other three races, the first of which is on Saturday. "I'm kind of relieved because it was a very important race for me - towards my most important race in two days' time," she says. "I had to feel that I could do it - if I didn't do well, it would have been very difficult for me to win in two days' time - especially after the heat this morning. I wasn't comfortable finishing fifth (overall) in the heat - second in mine - so I knew I had to swim much better in the final. Therefore, I wasn't really confident going into the final, I knew I had a chance and that I had to take advantage of that chance, but you're never confident.
"It was always not one of my best races (50m) - it takes me awhile to wind up and get going! But I knew I had to do better in the final race better and I'm happy I did what I came to do. Was I under pressure? I always put pressure on myself - nobody puts pressure on me - not in this race anyway."
Enjoying her stay in London so far, she may have missed last night's Opening Ceremony due to preparation for today's race, but said: "While I wasn't able to be there, the atmosphere's amazing. The crowd is full of British people and the amount of Israeli flags really is really something. It's people that I don't know, it's not my family holding the flags - it's them as well - and it means a lot. I wasn't expecting that amount of support."
However, despite getting off to a winning start, she's not getting carried away. She says: "Can I win? I don't know. It's hard to know because the competitors are so good, sometimes I have more confidence in them than myself!
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Source: http://www.totallyjewish.com/sport/c-18575/pezaros-joy-at-winning-israels-first-medal/
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