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

gymnast Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry 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 b ...

for Israel in the 1989 Maccabiah Games. 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 European countries organised by the European Union of Gymnastics. They take place in two biennial formats; in ev ...

, as well as four

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

, and represented Israel at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Kaplan was born in

Beer Sheva Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most po ...

, 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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and competed as a gymnast for the

Bruins Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, K ...

. He served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

Israeli champion

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

Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...

Maccabiah Games

In the 1989 Maccabiah Games, 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 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

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

Olympics

Kaplan represented Israel at the 1992 Summer Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, 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 sportsmen