Ayala Malchan-Katz

Katz fell ill at the age of three months with polio which affected her lower limbs. For nine years she was treated in a hospital in Jerusalem and at the age of nine she returned to her parents' home in Rosh HaAyin .

As part of her medical rehabilitation, she began competing in disabled sports and participated in swimming, fencing and wheelchair basketball competitions.

Katz lives in Petah Tikva and is the head of the municipal framework of the national program "Accessible Community" which works to implement a law of equal rights for people with disabilities.

At the 1968 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold medal in women's wheelchair basketball and a bronze medal in Women's Novices Foil. She competed in Women's Shot Put C,^[10] Women's Discus Throw C,^[11] Women's Javelin C,^[12] Women's Novices 60 meters B,^[13] Women's Slalom B,^[14] Women's Club Throw C,^[15] and Women's 50 m Backstroke Class 3 incomplete.^[16]

At the 1972 Summer Paralympics, she competed in Women's 60 meters Wheelchair 3,^[17] Women's Slalom 3,^[18] and Women's 50 m Backstroke 3.^[19] She won a gold medal as a member of the women's fencing team and a bronze medal with the Israeli wheelchair basketball team.

At the 1976 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold medal in Women's Foil Novice Team, and bronze medal in Women's Foil Individual 2-3.

At the 1980 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold medal in women's individual foil and a silver medal in Women's Foil Team.

At the 1984 Summer Paralympics, she won a silver medal in women's wheelchair fencing foil team.

At the 1988 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in Women's Foil Team. She competed in Women's Wheelchair Basketball.^[20]