Schlesinger wins gold at Bondi Beach

MACCABI Australia International Games (MAIGs) ocean swim winner, Marcus Schlesinger dedicated his victory to a friend, killed tragically three months ago.

The Californian 19-year-old, who won seven gold medals in the pool during the MAIGs, finished the inaugural ocean swim in 13 minutes 29 seconds, ahead of Australian Yuriy Burunov and his compatriot, Lloyd Tannenbaum.

After the victory, Schlesinger dedicated his swim to close friend Lucas Ransom, who was killed in a shark attack while body boarding off Santa Barbara, California last October.

“I was well aware that Bondi Beach also experiences the presence of sharks and that is one of the reasons I wanted to do this swim for Lucas,” Schlesinger said. “We have swum together since my first year in high school. I swam it for him.”.

The ocean swim at Bondi Beach was one of the highlights of the games, as more than 60 competitors – from as young as nine years old – charged into the ocean for the 1.2 kilometre swim in front of more than 100 spectators on the beach.

The first woman home was Australian Jenna Rose Gold, who finished fourth overall, with a time of 13 minutes 42 seconds.

Organiser Anthony Goodridge was pleased with how the ocean swim went.

“The weather and all conditions were in our favour and this made it a terrific event,” he said.

Goodridge said the concept is new to Maccabi, but the crowd support and the number of entrants made it one of the most exciting events of the games.

“This was the only MAIGS event held down at Bondi, so of course that was a draw card in itself.

“We believe this was the first Maccabi ocean swim held anywhere in the world, so there was the uniqueness about it. The international participants loved the day, competitor and spectator alike.”

Goodridge said the Maccabi Swimming Club hopes to build on the success of the event.

“We want to hold a Maccabi ocean swim every year and it looks like most of the participants do too.”

JOSHUA LEVI

Caption: American Marcus Schlesinger won eight gold medals at the MAIGS. Photo: Henry Benjamin