Ronald Barak

Ronald S. Barak (born June 7, 1943) is an American gymnast. At the 1961 Maccabiah Games he won eight gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. At the 1964 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships he won the all-around competition, the horizontal bars, and the parallel bars, and at the 1964 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Gymnastics Competition he was the champion in the horizontal bars. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and competed in eight events at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Early life and education Barak was born in Los Angeles, California, and is Jewish. He attended Louis Pasteur Junior High School in West Los Angeles, and Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles.

He then attended the University of Southern California (USC; B.S. with honors in physics, '64), and was awarded USC's Athlete of the Year Award in 1964.

Barak competed for the US in gymnastics at the 1961 Maccabiah Games, winning eight gold medals (including two in the rings, and two in the horizontal bar), one silver medal, and one bronze medal.

In 1962, Barak led the USC Trojans to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title in gymnastics, and won the all-around in the Big 6 Conference. At the 1964 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Gymnastics Competition, he was the champion in the horizontal bars.

From 1965 to 1968, while attending law school he was head coach of the USC Trojans varsity gymnastics team.

Post-gymnastics career Barak became a partner at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker where he became chairman of the real estate section of and co-managing partner. He was later a partner at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

He authored the mystery novel A Season For Redemption (2010), and a novel, The Amendment Killer, a political thriller published in November 2017. In 1995 he was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame. His second cousin, Ehud Barak, was the 10th Prime Minister of Israel.