Israeli Veterans Hit the Slopes

[Aspen [CO] Times] Charles Agar - Roni Goazlan, 35, is one of 10 wounded Israeli veterans who were in Snowmass this week for a sports clinic sponsored by the Jewish Community Center, Chabad of Aspen, and Challenge Aspen. A medic with the border patrol in Israel, Goazlan was on vacation in Jerusalem in June 2002 when he spied a suspicious man outside a crowded bus terminal. "I knew he was a suicide bomber," Goazlan said. He tackled the bomber and pushed the man against a wall just before the bomb exploded. Goazlan spent ten days in intensive care and endured 22 operations over one year and 8 months before his legs were amputated. "You must go on; you can't go back to the past," Goazlan said, adding that he's never felt sorry for himself over his injuries. In fact, he's got a new lease on life. "Before I was attacked, I didn't do any sports," Goazlan said. Today, he's the captain of his hometown wheelchair basketball team, he rides horses, and thanks to the folks at Challenge Aspen, he skis.


2008-04-04 01:00:00

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