Even though he is not at the peak of his fitness, with a short period of preparation due to an injury he is carrying, Artyom Dolgupiat, continued to prove today (Sunday) that he is one of Israel's greatest athletes of all time and certainly the greatest of the gymnasts who grew up here, when he won for the second time in his career at the European Championships.
The 25-year-old Dolgopiat, admittedly, advanced from the qualifiers "only" from the sixth place, and although you can see that even in the warm-up, his leg is still bothering him, he presented an impressive and almost clean exercise, when he managed to get the highest score from the last eight with 14.966 points.
The Israeli public first got to know Dolgopiat in 2017 when he qualified for the finals of the European Floor Championships held in Romania and was within touching distance of a medal when he finished in fourth place, but he made headlines already in 2015, when he dethroned his teacher and teacher Alex Shatilov from the title of Israeli champion on floor.
Born in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, Dolgopiat first met the gym at the age of 6 after his father took him to train at his friend's house.
He immigrated to Israel at the age of 12 and participated in the Youth Olympics held in Nanjing, where he finished in fifth place in the vaulting table, in eighth place in his strong floor exercise and in tenth place in the all-around (on all six devices), all under the baton of national coach Sergey Weisburg.
After graduating, the young gymnast participated in the Osijek Grand Prix in Croatia, where he was already on the podium with the gold medal in the floor exercise.
The big change began in 2015, when as mentioned for the first time he dethroned Tstilov from the title of Israeli champion in the floor exercise and made his debut at the world championships held in Glasgow, where he finished in 103rd place in the qualifiers.
Dolgofiat started his hack in 2017.
He won the gold medal at the Grand Prix in Croatia, qualified for the finals of the European Championships in Romania in the floor exercise and finished fourth (Stylov won the bronze), since then he has not stopped getting on podiums in the important events.
Douglagupiat in action.
continues to impress, photo: IPA
During his illustrious career, Dolgopiat won the title of World Vice Champion twice (Montreal 2017 and Stuttgart 2019), while in the most important continental competition in the European Championship, he achieved the gold in 2020, won the silver twice (2018 and 2019) and even took the bronze in the springboard.
Of course, his peak moment came at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where in front of me the stands were empty because of the corona virus, but with my delegation members who gave him a boost, he fulfilled all his promises, when he achieved the historic gold medal on the floor.
Today, Dolgupiat reached his first major competition since the Olympics, signaling to everyone that he has so much more to give, all the way to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
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