\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say. I made history. I did it all for the people of Israel. I am so proud to represent Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were Artem Dolgopyat\u2019s first words after winning a gold medal in the floor exercise in artistic gymnastics. His demeanor was one of modesty and in fact it seemed that he didn\u2019t even know how to react, how to celebrate Israeli\u2019s second ever gold medal at the Olympic games. <\/p>\n
Calm and quiet is what Dolgopyat is made of, perhaps even a quiet assassin, calculated and aware of his surroundings when on the mat and the stakes are high. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank everyone for their support. I don\u2019t know what to say. I\u2019m still sky high and it\u2019s hard to come back down to reality,\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his post medal media appearances whether on television, in a press conference or media scrum, Dolgopyat maintained his levelheadedness, his demeanor time and time again. Thanking anyone and everyone, whether it was the people who woke up early to watch him in the qualification round, his coach and his parents, or those who came before him, Dologpyat continued to dole out the gratitude. <\/p>\n
One of those gymnasts that paved the way for the 24-year old is Alex Shatilov who is now in the twilight of his career after participating in his fourth Olympic Games. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a tremendous amount of thanks for Alex Shatilov who has accompanied me the entire way. From my arrival in Israel over a decade ago and throughout my career he has been with me. He is like a brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis past month were together, just me and him. This was one of the best months that I have ever experienced and it\u2019s just too bad that both of us couldn\u2019t advance to the final. I hope that we can continue together and get their one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shatilov attempted to explain who Dolgopyat really is and what he and his team are made of, \u201cThey are great and have made an amazing achievement. We are all still in euphoria, it\u2019s an inconceivable achievement. I keep pinching myself to see if this is just a dream. But finally the dream has come true. We all enjoyed the experience in Tokyo and we weren\u2019t stressed or pressured at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about stress or pressure, Dolgopyat had to wait over a week between his first place qualifying performance and actually participating in the final, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that simple to wait after the qualification round. Each day that went by made it harder and harder. Finally, it was Saturday and I said to myself, it\u2019s tomorrow, the days went by so fast where did they go?\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was asked how he plans to celebrate he responded sheepishly, \u201cI don\u2019t know, this is my first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is who Artem Dolgopyat is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to the Gold Club,\u201d Gal Fridman, Israel\u2019s first ever Gold Medalist congratulated Dolgopyat while also commenting on his character. \u201cHe is an incredible athlete, I love his character and personality; he\u2019s modest, hard working and dedicates himself to his craft.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dolgopyat reflected back on his humble beginnings and how he could influence the next generation, \u201cWhen I saw the gymnasts performing at the age of 6, I fell in love with the sport. Everyone seemed to always be so much bigger than me, but my parents set goals in order for me to know how to continue to climb. They believed in me from day one and said that I would get to the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children need to stay modest and all of the future gymnasts should be like that. Most importantly are those who you surround yourself with, who give of themselves and believe in you.\u201d <\/p>\n
As for Dolgopyat\u2019s future, his coach Sergi Weissberg knows that the gold medalist is just scratching the surface of his potential, \u201cArtem gave us drama all the way to the last second. After a bit of time he will come back down to earth and we will begin to prepare for Paris 2024. Artem has plenty of room to improve. He can work on other disciplines and master those.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dolgopyat himself knows full well that he has the potential to do more, \u201cI can win another medal. It doesn\u2019t matter (if this was an Olympic Gold), just like when I won a medal before this I would forget about. Right now very quickly, I will have to forget about this and begin again anew.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that winning the gold medal won\u2019t change Dolgopyat and when he was queried about how it may alter his life, he quickly deflected the notion that he would be a changed man, \u201cI don\u2019t want all of that noise around me. It will only stress me out. The only thing I am thinking about is how I can bring honor to the country and more medals which is more important than anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that I will continue like this and achieve even more. I hope that I will be able to reach finals in other exercises. I want to remain modest and not think about everything else around me. Just keep working hard and do what I need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say. I made history. I did it all for the people of Israel. I am so proud to represent Israel.\u201d Those were Artem Dolgopyat\u2019s first words after winning a gold medal in the floor exercise in artistic gymnastics. His demeanor was one of modesty and in fact it seemed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":39511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4074],"tags":[4207,4368,29,3970],"class_list":["post-39483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jews-in-sports","tag-artem-dolgopyat","tag-gold-medal","tag-israel","tag-olympic","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n