Sportsברוך חגאי

Baruch Hagai

Baruch Hagai is an Israeli Paralympic athlete and coach who won 4 consecutive Paralympic gold medals in table tennis and received the Israel Prize in 2001.

born 1944Paralympic table tennis gold medalsWheelchair basketball for IsraelHead coach, Israel Sports Center for the Disabled2001 Israel Prize for sports

Occupation: Paralympic athlete, Para swimmer, para table tennis player, wheelchair basketball player

Baruch Hagai was born in 1944 in Tripoli

Hagai was born in 1944 in Tripoli, Libya, to a Jewish family of 13. He contracted polio as a small child. His family later immigrated to Israel, first living in the Caesarea transit camp and then in Tel Aviv, where he was first treated for polio.

He trained as a technician through courses of the Ministry of Labor. From 1960 to 2000 he worked as a machine technician and project coordinator at the Haargaz bus factory.

In 1960 he was among the first to join the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled. He played wheelchair basketball and table tennis and also swam. He took part in 224 international games for the Israeli national team and 66 for the Center, and at the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics he was among the first 5 Israelis to win Paralympic gold.

He won 8 Paralympic gold medals in table tennis, basketball and swimming. He stopped competing in 1988 and became head coach at the Sports Center. He was married to Esther until her death in 2020, and they had 3 sons, one of them basketball coach Roy Hagai.