Jerusalem – Disabled Athlete To Represent Israel At The London Paralympics In Hand Cycling

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    Pascale Bercovitch rides her hand bike during a training session in a park in Tel Aviv May 14, 2012. Bercovitch, 44, who lost her legs in a train accident in France in 1984, will represent Israel at the London Paralympics in hand cycling events. Picture taken May 14, 2012.   REUTERS/Nir EliasJerusalem – When Pascale Bercovitch hurried to catch a train to school on a freezing December morning in a Paris suburb in 1984, the last thing she could have imagined was that one day she would represent Israel at the Paralympics.

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    Then 17, she tried to jump onto the departing train but could not hold on. She fell under the wheels, the train severing her thighs and leaving her inches from death.

    Pascale Bercovitch drinks as she rests on her hand bike at the end of a training session in a park in Tel Aviv

    Recovery was long and painful for Bercovitch, now a 44-year-old mother of two girls. But since moving to Israel she has represented her adopted country in the Paralympics as a rower in Beijing and is now set for London as a hand cyclist.

    “I was totally in shock, I tried to call for help and I lay on the rails for 47 minutes on my own, it was such a long time,” Bercovitch told Reuters of the accident.

    Full story at Reuters


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