Escapa was born in France, immigrating to Israel as an orphan after the Second World War. At the age of 15 she was affected by polio and paralyzed in both legs and one of her arms. She studied in Jerusalem and was certified as an accountant, moving in 1962 to live in Holon and practice sports at the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled.[10]
Since at the dawn of the Paralympic Games there was no precision in reporting the results of the competitions, the Israeli athlete was indicated with the Italian nationality and without prename (and so she is mentioned in the International Paralympic Committee[12] of the Italian Paralympic Committee[13] web sites) for the reports of the Swimming at the 1964 Summer Paralympics where she won two bronze medals, simply reported as Escapa and not as Michal Escapa.[9] However, as can be seen from a 1968 Israeli newspaper reporting an interview with the athlete, she was the same athlete who had won medals in swimming and table tennis in Tokyo 1964.[14]
^ abcd"Michal Escapa - Hi whose mistake?". nli.org.il (in Hebrew). 27 September 1968. Retrieved 14 September 2021. ... but at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, she came to the place of success precisely. And she brought an additional Israeli team trophy as well as two sports for me
