The Discus Thrower & His Dream Factory

As a child in Israel, Dr. Gideon Ariel had five goals—breaking the Israeli records in the shot put and discus, representing Israel in the Olympic Games, studying at a university in America, becoming a multimillionaire and owning a Cadillac. These goals might have seemed unobtainable to a young man on the way to juvenile delinquency, but picking up the discus changed all that. And one sailing, floating throw of a discus in a single competitive event set him on a path to becoming a world-renowned biomechanist and operating his own dream factory.

As a child in Israel, Dr. Gideon Ariel had five goals—breaking the Israeli records in the shot put and discus, representing Israel in the Olympic Games, studying at a university in America, becoming a multimillionaire and owning a Cadillac. These goals might have seemed unobtainable to a young man on his way to juvenile delinquency, but picking up the discus changed all that. And one sailing, floating throw in a single competitive event set him on a path to becoming a world-renowned biomechanist and operating his own dream factory. Following Ariel from his birth in Tel Aviv in 1939 to a kibbutz where he met the people that would change his life, The Discus Thrower & His Dream Factory describes the journey in great detail. Once a troubled youth, his love of shot put and discus improved not only his physical performance but his emotional performance as well. He gained confidence and dared to dream. And when the Olympics came calling, Ariel was ready to answer. Not only a fascinating life story, The Discus Thrower & His Dream Factory teaches an important lesson to our children. Dreams have no boundaries if you follow them. Imagination, luck, and hard work are necessary ingredients for success. If your mind bubbles, creates, and breathes life into dreams, then dreams can become real. The mind is the factory, which forges the dreams.

Dr. Gideon Ariel is a world-renowned authority in biomechanics, the science linking physics to movement of the human body, with special expertise in computer science. He is an Israeli former Olympic track and field athlete, competing in the shot put and discus throw. He completed his graduate and post-doctoral work at the University of Massachusetts, where he received a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Computer Science. Dr. Ariel has published numerous scientific papers, has been featured on national TV and in many magazines, and holds several patents, including one on variable resistance which is the basis of most modern exercise equipment. He served as consultant to many of the country's leading companies, founded an independent laboratory devoted to biomechanical research relating to human performance, and was chairman of the U.S. Olympic Biomechanical Committee. Dr. Ariel has been active in the fields of exercise and movement quantification for over 50 years. He conducted the first scientific study of anabolic steroids, invented the first rapid and accurate computerized system to quantify the movement of Olympic athletes using the Newtonian laws of motion, invented the air shoe, and invented an exercise system that was actually controlled, not merely monitored, by a computer.