Artistic Gymnast wins Olympic gold medal for Israel at men’s floor finals

Tokyo, Japan: Israeli artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won an Olympic gold medal on Sunday at the finals of the men’s floor exercise at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with a score of 14.933.

Spaniard Rayderley Miguel Zapata received a score identical to Dolgopyat, but ranked beneath him due to the higher difficulty level of Dolgopyat’s exercise, netting only a silver medal.

As Taekwondo phenom Avishag Semberg was busy winning Israel’s first Bronze Medal for the 2020 Olympic Games, Dolgopyat was busy qualifying for the finals of the Men’s floor exercise from the first place ranking overall, after setting an impressive score of 15.20 in the exercise he performed.

The 24-year-old competed in the first group. Though later in the day, the other two groups of gymnasts also competed, and at the end of the competition day, Dolgopyat continued to rank first.

The score he earned during the qualifiers did not help Dolgopyat in the final and was reset prior to Sunday’s exercise.

Artem’s passion for gymnastics goes back to the tender age of six when he first signed up to attend his local club in Dnirpo, Ukraine, as he followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a gymnast himself. In 2009, Dolgopyat’s family moved to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv, where he quickly became a standout at the Maccabi sports club.