Olympian Andy Bloom Un-Retires for Maccabiah

At the last Maccabiah Games, pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz came back from retirement to compete.  That led her to an appearance to the 2012 London Olympics representing Israel.  Now, 2000 USA Olympian Andy Bloom will attempt to follow her lead.  Andy, who was already appointed as an Assistant Coach for Maccabi USA Track and Field, has commited to throwing the discus at the Games.

As he stated, "Getting by my wife will be more difficult than training for the Games."  He feels his body can't handle more shot puts, but feels his discus throwing ability might still be elite.  How does he know this?  His 10 year old daughter brought the former Olympian to school for "show and tell" - to demonstrate his talents.  He feel his back and shoulder held up just great and he has begun his training.

Andy has thrown the discus and shot put farther than any Jewish person in recorded history.  He retired abruptly in 2002 due to injury, but is eager to throw again at Maccabiah this Summer.

Andy will a drastic improvement from my bronze medal appearance in the 2009 Games.  To put things in perspective, my career best discus throw was about 147 feet, and Andy's is over 225 feet.  He is the real deal- The beauty of discus is age does not effect you as drastically  as it does the jumps and the sprints (I'll write about that anguish in another blog entry).

Andy attended the same high school as my friend 2-time Olympic silver medalist, Adam Nelson (my Facebook friend- that counts right?)  In fact, I met Andy through Adam-   So thanks for the contact Adam!

Jewish USA athletes in the 2012 London Olympics

I have been asked frequently who is Jewish for Team USA in the London Olympics.  Not all of the Israeli Athletes are Jewish including Donald Sanford.

Jason Lezak, 2009 Maccabiah Torch Lighter in Israel is back for his fourth and last Olympic run.  The 36-year-old swimmer is one of five captains for the 530-member American squad. Fellow Jews joining Jason on the USA Team at the London Games, include, gymnasts Alexandra Raisman (gold medal winner) and Julie Zetlin, swimmer Anthony Ervin, rower David Banks, fencer Tim Morehouse (fencing coach, Yury Gelman and the fencing announcer, Jeff Bukantz is Jewish as well.)

2009 Maccabi USA Flag Bearer, Jillian Schwartz, a pole vaulter on the American team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, will be representing Israel this time around.  Jillian is the only Jewish track athlete representing Israel at the Olympics.

With Olympic glory, there is always Olympic disappointments.  There were some heavily touted Jewish athletes that didn’t make the cut this time. They include swimmers Dara Torres (five Olympics, 12 medals), Garret Weber-Gale (two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games), Andrea Murez (2012 NCAA champion in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays), Daniel Madwed (2012 Big Ten champion in four events), Dustin Emrani, Deena Kastor, Eric Goucher and Eric Friedland. Also not heading to London to compete are soccer player Yael Averbuch and gymnast David Sender.

Track Star Melissa Perlman Features a Story on Rob Fellman and Maccabiah

A true heartfelt, "thank you" to State Champion, Melissa Perlman of BlueIvey Communications.  She wrote a terrific article for the Examiner.com.  The laudatory article will allow her readers to learn more about the Maccabiah Sport for Israel organization and how to participate.

Melissa has been taking the Public relations field in South Florida by storm.  She left her prominany position in Boca Raton to follow her dreams.  The former Florida State Champion in the Mile and Brown University Educated Perlman has been training and volunteering at her former high school to get back in shape.  She will be making a come-back in 2013 on the Maccabiah Half-marathon team.

Coach Rick Rothman (Maccabiah USA Juniors Track and Field Coach) has been mentoring and adivising his former student-athlete.  He feels she is back to her elite form with a couple of recent road race wins.  We look forward to following her progress at maccabiusa.com

Olympic Update

With just 40 days left until the 2012 London Olympics,  Dustin Emrani is still on the verge of qualifying for the Games representing Israel. He set a new 4 x 400 National record anchoring the Israeli team. He is confident he will be ready and primed by next month.

Jillian Schwartz was seen  pole vaulting at an event on 4th Street in downtown Louisville, Kentucky in preparation for the Games.  Her jumps are ranking her near the tops of the world.  Not bad for the former Duke alum who quit the sport in 2008, but made a terrific come back on the Israeli National Team.

Steven Solomon, AUS is all the rage in the World Maccabiah circle. If you haven't heard his name yet, I am honored to introduce you to him. At the current age of onl y 19, he already has won two Australian National Championships in the 400m.  I look forward to seeing where this young man's career will take him-   Since the modern Olympics, he has the fastest 400m for any Jewish athlete (45.58)

Know another Jewish Track athlete competing for an Olympic bid?  Please email me your thoughts to: rfellman7@aol.com or maccabi@maccabiusa.com

Jillian Schwartz, ( ISR) qualifies for 2012 Olympics-

Jillian Schwartz, ISR won a recently televised  indoors meet against America's best on ESPN.  She cleared 14' 10" and beat the competitive field including Jennifer Suhr at Madison Square Gardens. This jump qualifies Jillian for the Olympic "A" Standard-

 To view her winning jump, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwy7S0CtOa0


In related news, Dustin Emrani, ISR can almost taste the fish and chips in London. Dustin ran an early season race of 1:47.81 indoors, a personal record for him.

With this race, he qualified for the World Indoors Championships. If he does a similar race outdoors, he will earn an invitation to the Summer Olympics. To view his race click here http://tinyurl.com/7udmrl4