Jillian Schwartz to compete for Israel

[mjb]

Just read on TnF news she is now representing Israel. WOW!

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135435.html

Vaulter hopes Israel will spring Olympic return

By Raphael Ahren

New immigrant Jillian Schwartz, an accomplished American pole-vaulter, arrived yesterday in Tel Aviv, where she will pursue her dream of vaulting back into the Olympics with Israel's track and field team. After winning gold at this past summer's Maccabiah Games and receiving enticing offers from Israeli athletic officials, the 30-year-old Chicago native decided to become an Israeli citizen to have a better shot at the 2012 Games in London.

"My goal is to get in the finals there and see if I can get any medals," she told Haaretz. "The experience I had at the Maccabiah was great, everybody was really welcoming and supportive. It seems Israel is much more supportive of its athletes than the United States, where there are so many who compete at so many different levels, so that if you have a bad year they kind of forget about you."
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Schwartz competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, but didn't reach the finals. That same year, she became the fifth American woman ever to clear 15 feet and placed fourth at the indoor world championships in Hungary.

[KirkB]

I realize that with a name like Schwartz, Julian probably has heritage ties to Israel, even if she wasn't born there.

In my day, pro track athletes were black sheep, but a lot has changed ... thanks to Pre and many others. You NEED to be a pro athlete to succeed in track today!

I once held the opinion that athletes becoming citizens of countries other than where they lived their entire life ... with the exception of athletes that were born in a certain country and were just returning to "their roots" ... were disloyal to their country. But in recent years, I've come to realize that it's not the athletes being disloyal to their country ... quite the contrary, it's the country being disloyal to the best athletes!

I'm sure that Jillian will get lots of support in Israel towards her training and ultimate career goals ... apparently more than she will get in the US. Altho there's the issue of the US team being harder to make, there's the bigger issue of her being able to train as a professional athlete ... without having to beg for handouts or hold down another job.

If Americans don't like their athletes going elsewhere, then they should look for some way to pay them to train ... just like many other countries.

If I'm opening a can of worms about this, I'm going to just sit back and listen, since I'm not American myself. You can argue this one amongst yourselves.

Kirk

[NZ Vaulter]

How does that work with the stand down period from switching coutries???

I thought there was a 3 year standdown for an International athlete, who has competed at (A level) International meets.

Will this make her eligable for 2012?

Does anyone know how this works?

[achtungpv]

The waiting period is just for IAAF championships and the Olympics. She's free to compete in IAAF events and other meets.

[UWvaulter]

Congrats on the dual citizenship Jillian! This really shows the lack of support elite athletes get here in the USA. I'm interested to see if more US athletes will follow her lead.

[Bubba PV]

Great for her. It shouldn’t be a surprise though when you look at how many foreign collegians train here but compete for their home countries. We offer no measurable support that would allow an athlete to live and train. But then one could argue, “How do we always win the most medals”? Determination and population I would say. Bubba

[VaultNinja]

We didn't win the most medals the last time around.

[VaultLove]

There is not much money in Israel either. She would need to step it up. There will only be two US ladies ranked World Top 10. That does not include Jillian. She switching to have a chance at teams. Then again, she retired before. Who knows what to expect. Performance is key. Mensil also complained about lack of support. He then went out and made a difference by claiming World Silver.

Great for her. It shouldn’t be a surprise though when you look at how many foreign collegians train here but compete for their home countries. We offer no measurable support that would allow an athlete to live and train. But then one could argue, “How do we always win the most medals”? Determination and population I would say. Bubba

[VaultLove]

They give out 3 medals. American women claimed (1) Beijing and (1) Berlin.

We didn't win the most medals the last time around.

[Bubba PV]

Sorry, I meant all medals in athletics; not just the vault. Bubba

[Barto]

We won the most in the only sport that counts - Athletics (Track and Field).