Tal Stricker (born May 29, 1979) is a

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can b ...

swimmer from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, who competed for

Israel at the 2000 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. 39 competitors, 29 men and 10 women, took part in 43 events in 9 sports. The delegation of 39 athletes was the biggest at the time, and third-biggest in history, after 2008 with ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

Early life

Stricker was born in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

, Israel, and his parents are Rafi and Nava Stricker.Tal Stricker Bio – Florida State Seminoles Official Athletic Site
/ref>
/ref> He attended Tichon Hadash High School in Tel Aviv.

Swimming career

Competing for

, Stricker swam in three events. He won his preliminary heat in the 100m breaststroke (1:03.99), but did not advance to the semifinals and placed 32nd. He also finished 32nd in the 200m breaststroke (2:19.33). He was a member of Israel's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Team that finished in 5th place in the preliminary heat (3:43.39), and did not advance; they ended up 17th overall. Stricker was a member of Israel's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay Team that finished in 8th place (3:43.48) at the European LC Championships 2000 in

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. In 2000–01, he was a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. A ...

at Florida State University. He finished 9th in the 100m breaststroke in the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship. As a sophomore, he broke the school record in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 1:59.68. At the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

, in the special 4x50m relay race between Israeli and American all-star teams, American Olympic champions

Lenny Krayzelburg Lenny Krayzelburg (born September 28, 1975, as Leonid Krayzelburg; uk, Леонід Крайзельбург, russian: link=no, Леони́д Кра́йзельбург) is an American former backstroke swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and form ...

(four Olympic golds),

Jason Lezak Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...

(four Olympic golds), and

Anthony Ervin Anthony Lee Ervin (born May 26, 1981) is an American competition swimmer who has won four Olympic medals and two World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver med ...

(three Olympic golds), with masters swimmer Alex Blavatnik, swam a time of 1:48.23 and defeated Israeli Olympians Stricker,

Guy Barnea Guy Marcos Barnea (; born 9 September 1987) is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won three medals at the European Championships. As of March 2016, he held the Israeli records in the long course 50m b ...

Yoav Bruck Yoav Bruck ( he, יואב ברוק; born March 6, 1972, in Lakhish) is a former swimmer from Israel, who competed in three Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992. Bruck is Jewish. He finished 32nd in the 50m freestyle (23.72) ...

, and Eran Groumi, who had a time of 1:51.25.">"Records fall as Olympians shine at Maccabiah Games,"
''The Jerusalem Post''.

References

External links

* Florida State University alumni 1979 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli male swimmers Olympic swimmers of Israel Male breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Jewish swimmers People from Ramat Gan Maccabiah Games competitors for Israel Maccabiah Games swimmers {{Israel-swimming-bio-stub