Gideon Ariel

Early and personal life

Ariel was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. His father, the son of a rabbi, was born in Poland in 1904, and made aliyah (moved to Israel, then known as Palestine) in 1922, and ultimately became a hotel manager and then head of customs at the Jaffa port, as well as a member of the Stern Gang. His mother worked as the secretary to the Mayor of Tel Aviv. His parents divorced when he was ten years old. At the age of 11, he moved to a kibbutz. He served three years in the Israel Defense Forces.

He studied at the Wingate Institute in Israel, and later attended the University of Wyoming on an athletic scholarship, beginning in 1963 and graduating in 1966. Ariel obtained a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts in Exercise Science. He completed his graduate and post-doctoral work at the University of Massachusetts, where he received a Ph.D. in Exercise and Computer Science.

Ariel and his former wife Yael Tzabar have a child, Geffen Olympia. He lived in Amherst, Massachusetts and Coto de Caza, California. He has three more daughters: Tova, Nomi, and Ilana Ariel.

Discus and shot put

When Ariel competed in the Olympics, he was 6 ft (184 cm) tall, and weighed 220 lbs (100 kg).

Ariel competed for Israel at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, at the age of 21, in the Men's Shot Put, and came in 22nd with a distance of 14.65 meters. He was also the flag bearer for Israel at the 1960 Olympics.

Ariel competed for Israel at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, at the age of 25, in the Men's Discus Throw, and came in 26th with a distance of 46.12 meters. He was again the flag bearer for Israel at the 1964 Olympics.

His personal best in the discus throw was 55.22 meters, in 1964. Ariel's personal best in the shot put was 16.27 meters, in 1966.

Anabolic steroids

Ariel performed research in the use of anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids (AAS) or colloquially as "steroids" (or even "roids"), which are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. Uses of anabolic steroids in sports are controversial because of their adverse effects and the potential to gain an advantage conventionally considered "cheating."

Biomechanical performance optimization

Ariel developed a business of biomechanical services, ranging from physical rehabilitation to personalized athletic instruction, working with athletes including Olympic champion discus thrower Al Oerter—who after working with Ariel, at age 43 threw a discuss 27 feet farther than his best gold medal performance.

Another of those grateful athletes was Mac Wilkins. In 1975, the USOC had gathered 12 of America's best discus throwers to be filmed in action with high speed cameras. The footage was sent to Ariel's laboratory where he conducted his analysis on their performances. Wilkins commented on Ariel's assessment of his technique: "He pointed out that my front leg was absorbing energy that could go into the throw. I had to begin to change my whole conception of throwing I used to think I had to put as much of my speed in the direction of the throw." Ariel's analysis had shown that Mac was generating speeds up to 30 percent faster in one segment of the throw than anyone else, but it was dissipating it at the end. According to Ariel, the computer "found that with a perfectly timed summation of his forces, Wilkins could throw the discus 250 feet." After implementing Gideon's advice, Mac Wilkins went on to break the world record and win the Olympic gold medal at the 1976 games in Montreal, Canada.

He founded the Olympic Training Center in Squaw Valley and Colorado Springs and became chairman of the U.S. Olympic Biomechanical Committee. In San Diego, he founded Ariel Dynamics to apply biomechanical concepts to sports performance.

Variable resistance exercising device

An improved exercising device for exercising the legs of a user includes a frame member with a lever arm having one end pivotably attached thereto. The lever arm extends downwardly from the portion of the frame member to which it is pivotably connected, and a pair of foot-engaging force transferring members are mounted on the lower end of the lever arm. A cable has one end pivotably connected near the lower end of the lever arm, passes around an eccentrically mounted pulley and has its other end connected to weights. As the user lifts the lower portions of his legs, the lever arm is pivoted to pull the cable and the weights attached thereto, thereby strengthening the knee muscles of the user. The eccentrically mounted pulley varies the resistance to movement of the user's lower legs initially increasing the resistance and then decreasing the resistance in a sinusoidal manner as the lower legs are lifted to pivot the lever arm and lift the weights. Patent US 4256302 A, 1981.

Exerciser

An exerciser bar is supported for rotation and acts against an hydraulic cylinder with the angle of the bar and the pressure in the cylinder measured and fed to a micro computer which, using this input data, controls the cylinder pressure in accordance with a selected exercise program, the micro computer also providing outputs to displays so that the person exercising can monitor his progress. Patent US 4354676 A, 1982.

Passive programmable resistance device

A passive programmable resistance device uses a closed loop feedback for controlling resistance to rotational or translational motion of an object. One or more actual parameters, such as force or position, are measured and compared with desired parameters. The differences are used to provide a control signal which controls the resistance to the movement of the object. Patent US 4544154 A, 1985.

Related patents

Books

Gideon Ariel has authored two books detailing the events of his life and career. The book titled "The Oasis of Dreams, the Legend of Hadassim" reflects on events that transpired in Hadassim, Israel, a kibbutz that incorporated a unique educational system for children.

In his autobiography titled "The Discus Thrower and his Dream Factory", Gideon Ariel describes how one single throw of a discus in a competitive event saved him from a life as a juvenile delinquent and set him on the path to become a world-renowned biomechanist and operate his own dream factory.

Television

Awards and honors

In 2012, Gideon Ariel was awarded the Geoffrey Dyson Award at the ISBS 2012 Conference.