Athlete of the Month
Israa Salem
Paralympic Track and Field

This spring was the first time Israa Salem ever learned about running track or throwing field implements. A school based program organized by the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association and supported by World Sport Chicago made trying these new sports a possibility for Israa. Living with a visual disability may be a challenge, but Israa has met it head on and enjoyed her first foray into sport.

Because of her success running track and throwing in field at the regional level, Israa earned the opportunity to compete in the National Junior Disability Championships (NJDC). World Sport Chicago was proud to be the title sponsor of this event in the north suburbs that attracted over 300 children with physical or visual disabilities from across the nation. Israa was one of 60 Chicagoland athletes that participated.

At NJDC, Israa won the 60m dash for her age group and disability class. She took second place in the 100m and 200m races as well as in discus. Israa was ready for the long jump and set a national record with 0.97m. She also set a national record in the softball throw with a distance of 3.82m. Because of these spectacular performances at her first national level meet, Israa is World Sport Chicago’s August “Athlete of the Month.”