Sender wins three golds at Maccabiah Games

Former Stanford gymnast David Sender won three gold medals at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel earlier this month.

2008 U.S. Champion David Sender, who considered giving up gymnastics after being passed over for a spot on the Olympic team last summer, was thrice golden at the recent Maccabiah Games, the premier sporting event for Jewish athletes around the world.

In the open, singles male division, Sender took three gold medals, winning on still rings, vault and horizontal bar with 14.65, 15.575 and 14.6 respectively. He earned silver in the open all-around with a final score of 84.225 and on pommel horse with a 13.05. Benjamin Rudolph of Naperville, Ill., finished third in the all-around with 80.25. David Frankl of Franklin Lakes, N.J., won an individual event bronze on pommel horse with a 12.5 and parallel bars 12.55. Joshua Steves of Houston, Texas, took bronze on vault with 13.6. Joshua Ungar of Longmeadow, Mass., scored a 13.1 on horizontal bar, earning bronze. Frankl also won gold in the all-around in the junior, individual division, while Steves took bronze.

Simone Freidman of Annandale, Va., and Ilana Gordon of San Carlos, Calif., each earned silver medals in the women’s junior, individual division; Freidman on floor with a 12.625 and uneven bars with 10.825, and Gordon on vault with 13.075. Hannah Popper of Forest Hills, N.Y., won bronze on floor with a score of 11.9.

2008 Olympic floor finalist Alexander Shatilov (he placed 8th), who immigrated to Israel from Uzbekistan in 2002 and represents Israel, won the senior all-around title.

Sender also got to carry the U.S. banner during the Games’s opening ceremonies at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv.

It will be quite interesting to see how Sender stacks up at next month’s U.S. Championships, now that that ankle sprain from last summer has healed.

(via USA Gymnastics)

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