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Uri Bergman

Uri Bergman is an Israeli former Paralympic swimmer who won 15 medals at the Paralympic Games and later worked as a swimming and water polo coach.

born 195315 Paralympic swimming medalsCoaching swimming and water poloRehabilitative swimming and hydrotherapy

Occupation: Para swimmer, swimmer

Uri Bergman was born in 1953

Uri Bergman was born in 1953 in Kibbutz Givat Brenner, the third son of Itka and Yaakov Bergman. He contracted polio as a baby. As a youth he played on the kibbutz water polo team.

He later joined the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled and turned to swimming. He competed at 4 Paralympic Games, from 1976 to 1988. He won 15 medals there, 12 of them gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.

He studied at the Kibbutzim College, the Wingate Institute and Tel Aviv University. He qualified as a swimming coach, a social worker and a psychotherapist. He also earned a PhD in rehabilitation psychology and social work.

At Wingate he coordinated rehabilitative swimming and hydrotherapy, and he coached swimming at the Sports Center for the Disabled. He coached Israel's water polo teams at the 1979 Hapoel Games and the 1993 Maccabiah, and led Israeli swimmers at the Paralympic Games. He also served in the reserves as a mental health officer.

Bergman is active in the Israel Paralympic Committee. In 2000 he was honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Milestones in Uri Bergman's life

1953
Born in Kibbutz Givat Brenner.
1976
Competed at his first Paralympic Games.
1979
Coached Israel's water polo team at the 11th Hapoel Games, which took first place.
1988
Competed at his fourth Paralympic Games.
1989
Began publishing papers on rehabilitative sport.
1993
Coached the water polo team at the 14th Maccabiah.
2000
Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.