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!
