Gilad Weingarten

Gilad Weingarten was born in 1938 in Tel Aviv

Gilad Weingarten was born in Tel Aviv in 1938. As a child he moved to Kiryat Haim, where he finished high school. He trained in athletics at Hapoel Kiryat Haim under coach Yitzhak Mandelbrod.

He served in the IDF in the Nahal. He competed in the long jump for Israel's national team and won the Israeli title in 1962 with 7.10 m. He later reached 7.37 m at a competition in São Paulo.

He studied physical education at the Wingate Institute from 1959 to 1961 and taught in Kiryat Ata and at the Technion. In 1964 he went to study in Wyoming on a sports scholarship. He then earned graduate degrees at the University of Minnesota, including a doctorate in sports science and sports psychology.

In 1970 he returned to Israel to run the school for coaches at Wingate, where he also lectured on sports psychology. He headed the institute's research and sports medicine department from 1984 to 1987. From 1991 to 1999 he was director general of the Wingate Institute and founded a boarding school for young athletes.

He retired from the Wingate academic college in 2003. From 2005 to 2013 he led the association supporting the Olympic Committee. Since 1972 he has been a TV commentator on athletics, covering 11 Olympic Games.