- Israel

Israeli Gold Medalist, Gal Friedman, Continues to be a Good Role Model

Gal Fridman, Israel's first and only Olympic gold medalist, has a love/hate relationship with his fame. Sitting with a reporter in a cafe overlooking Caesarea on Israel's Mediterranean coast, he looks like he'd rather be doing just about anything else. The champion windsurfer fidgets in his seat, checks his watch repeatedly and looks more at his Oakley shades than at the reporter. Fridman is polite but laconic — his contempt for this exercise seems obvious. At this moment, he hates being famous.

Then there is the other part of fame, the part he relishes. Flash back to last July. It’s a summer night in St. Paul, Fridman has just lit the torch to open the JCC Maccabi games. After coming down from the stage, he hears his handler tell him he needs to be on his way back to the hotel in five minutes. It's just not happening. A shy girl approaches him for an autograph. The word quickly gets around the Xcel Energy Center that he's signing. Soon there is a line 20 kids deep and growing. Cameras are flashing bright, and so is his smile. The kids keep coming in waves. Fridman rolls his eyes as the handler tells him to get moving. Right now, he loves being famous.

It's simple, really. If it's a matter of obligation — posing for magazine pictures, sitting for press interviews or schmoozing with the machers — Fridman reaches for the Oakleys. But if it's joking with American Jewish youth in the Xcel Energy Center or connecting "at-risk" Israeli children on a bike trail, it might take an IDF commando to separate him from the kids.

It's the biking with children at risk that the 30-year-old considers one of the best perks of being Gal Fridman. Last year, after returning from Athens with a gold medal around his neck, Fridman visited the offices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in Jerusalem to explore how he could connect with Israel's youth in a meaningful way. Fridman wanted to use his status to help Israel beyond the PR bang he's given it, so JDC was a natural address.

"Look at what happened to (Michael) Phelps," Fridman says referring to the U.S. swimmer who one several gold medals in Athens and was arrested on drunk driving charges less than a year later. "I look at myself like I have to set a good example for the kids. In this position, you have to think about everything you do. You're already a role model, so you have to choose if you're going to be a good one or a bad one.'

Working with JDC program staff, he took under his wing two groups of 11 kids from underprivileged and broken homes in Israel's poorest and most marginalized neighborhoods. His goal: Give them a purpose; make them feel like their lives are worthwhile, that they have a future. His method: Bust their tails.

Fridman knows something about busting tail. Competitive windsurfing is downright grueling. It is a test of tactical know-how and brute strength. You must make your way by relentlessly pumping your arms and upper legs to keep the sail upright against stiff wind resistance, which propels you forward. To stay in peak shape during the off-season, Gal rips through a daily dry-land training regimen that includes biking more than 10 miles. He has hinted that he sometimes enjoys biking more than windsurfing and that he finds an outlet for self-expression in the pedals.

"I tell the kids that they have to take their anger out on the pedals not each other," Fridman says.

More than for self-expression, Fridman has found that an activity as simple as peddling is full of other lessons he can share with the boys, such as the power of perseverance.

"They see after one hour of riding they come to a hill and say they are tired and that they can't climb, I tell them that when you start to think in your mind that you can't do something, you're not even halfway as tired as your body can get. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start peddling. Then they that they can only stop themselves in their mind."

There is also the lesson of teamwork. Teaching these kids how to trust is perhaps the most important goal Gal has set for his program. Succeeding in society requires letting your guard down, being willing to help and be helped.

"They are learning that they have to support one another. If one is falling behind they must want to help each other with obstacles."

It sounds so simple, a group of kids on mountain bikes. For Fridman this is not just about riding bikes. He is invested in the program and its outcome. He pays attention to the kids and listens to their conversations, and he wants to see them take the sport seriously. He is convinced that a focused approach to the bike trail will carry over into other parts of their lives. He has developed a plan that involves scoring each boy after each session based on attitude. That score determines who advances to more difficult rides.

"The purpose of the program is to keep the boys on track," Fridman says. And the boys have found themselves striving, some for the first time in their lives. More importantly they are letting down their guards.

"I'm really getting to know the kids. At first we didn't know how they would be doing. They always wanted to crash their bikes. But during the bike rides, they really open up. They are talking about school now and some are even training on their own. It's taken a while; it doesn't happen after a few months."

Fridman is currently working with two groups, one in the town of Or Akiva and the other in the town of Shachar.

"This program is something that Gal has played a hands-on role in creating, he provides feedback for us and has become completely invested in its success," says Noya Baram, a JDC project manager, who works closely with Fridman. "It’s a credit to his level of personal interest in the boys that we are seeing results and hearing positive things from their teachers that this is working."

Fridman hopes to expand the program with additional instructors taking groups out three times a month. He would join each group at least once a month. Ultimately he hopes that some of the kids will be able to reach the competitive level.

"I think I have a lot of knowledge about how to succeed," Fridman says. "I want to give this knowledge to the kids because they likely won't have this opportunity otherwise. If one of the kids can compete on the national level, other kids will see that there is an opportunity to do something they never dreamed of."

February 2006