MGYM: Shachar Tal Wins Bronze on Floor, Rings at Maccabiah Games – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Senior reports more about his trip home
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Shachar Tal of the Ohio State men’s gymnastics team took home a bronze medal on both floor and rings July 15 at the 18th Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Israel. The rising senior scored a 14.15 on floor and a 13.95 on rings to finish third on both events.
A native of Rehovot, Israel, Tal has been corresponding with OhioStateBuckeyes.com during his time at the Games. Below, Tal talks about his performance at the international meet and the fun he is having outside of the gym.
Q. You earned a bronze on floor and rings, how do you feel about your overall performance?
A. I’m pretty happy with my performance. It was hard to keep my energy up throughout the competition because the meet took four hours. In the events final competition, I was very happy with my performance.
Q. How did the team competition go?
A. There was no team competition. For some reason, unknown to me, it was cancelled a few minutes before the meet started.
Q. Also competing for Israel is Penn State’s Noam Shaham. What is it like competing with him at this event instead of against him in college?
A. It was exciting to compete with Noam. It is not much different when we compete against each other because I hope he will do his best.
Q. Away from the gym, are you and Noam good friends?
A. Yes, we are good friends. We trained and competed together since we were kids.
Q. What was the opening ceremony like?
A. The opening ceremony was very impressive. It is similar to the Olympics’ ceremony but probably 10 times smaller. It was about two hours long and there were shows and singers and all the delegations from all over the world walked into the stadium.
Q. Now that you are finished with the games, what are you plans for the rest of your time home?
A. I am going to a short vacation with my family and my friends.
Q. Do you get to spend much time with your family?
A. Other than the past week when I was busy with the Maccabiah Games, I have had lots of time to spend with my family.
Q. Are you looking forward to returning to the U.S.?
A. I’m enjoying my time at home but at the same time I’m looking forward to coming back.
