Ron Kaplan (רון קפלן; born May 1, 1970) is an Israeli former Olympic

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

. A four-time national champion, he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

for Israel in the

1989 Maccabiah Games The 13th Maccabiah Games brought 4,500 athletes to Israel from 45 nations. Jewish athletes from Hungary participated for the first time since World War II, Jewish athletes from Russia had been permitted, by their country, to play for the first ti ...

. He also competed for Israel in two

European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships are an annual series of artistic gymnastics championships for male gymnasts from Europe, European countries organised by the European Union of Gymnastics. History Originally held biannually a ...

, as well as four

World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for artistic gymnastics governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). The first edition of the championships was held in 1903, exclusively for male gymnas ...

, and represented

Israel at the 1992 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. 30 competitors, 25 men and 5 women, took part in 42 events in 10 sports. Israel won its first ever Olympic medals at these Games. The first medallist in Israel's history was Yael Ar ...

Early life

Kaplan was born in

Beer Sheva Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

, Israel, and is Jewish."Kaplan, Ron"
/ref> He attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and competed as a gymnast for the Bruins. He served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Israeli champion

Kaplan was the Israeli individual all-around gymnastics champion from 1989–92, for club teams from Beer Sheva and

Holon Holon ( he, חוֹלוֹן ) is a city on the central coastal strip of Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the metropolitan Gush Dan area. In it had a population of . Holon has the second-largest industrial zone in Israel, after Haifa. ...

Maccabiah Games

In the

, at the age of 19, Kaplan won a

for Israel in the individual all-around competition.

European Championships

In 1990, Kaplan finished in 33rd place in the individual all-around at the

(the highest finish in Israel's history), and in 1992 he finished in 27th place.

World Championships

Kaplan competed at the

in 1989, placing 82nd in the individual all-around. In 1991 he placed 64th in the individual all-around, in 1993 he placed 67th in the individual all-around, and in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

he came in 54th in the individual all-around.

Olympics

Kaplan represented

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, in gymnastics at the age of 22. In the Men's Individual All-Around, he came in 65th, out of 93 gymnasts, with a score of 122.250. His best events were the Men's Floor Exercise, in which he came in tied for 36th, and the Men's Rings, in which he came in tied for 47th.

TV commentator

After Kaplan retired from gymnastic competition, he became a TV commentator in Israel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Ron 1970 births Living people Jewish Israeli sportspeople Olympic gymnasts for Israel Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel UCLA Bruins men's gymnasts Sportspeople from Beersheba Israeli male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 1989 Maccabiah Games European Games competitors for Israel Israeli television people 20th-century Israeli people