Artem Dolgopyat stood on top of a European podium for the third time in his career on Friday, taking gold in the men's floor exercise final at the European Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb with a score of 14.466.
It is a title the 29-year-old Maccabi Tel Aviv gymnast has now won in 2020, 2022 and 2026, adding to a collection that already included four European silvers, from 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024. Arsenii Dukhno took silver in Zagreb with 14.333, while Britain's Harry Hepworth claimed bronze with 14.300.
For Dolgopyat, the medal itself has never been separate from what plays afterward on the arena speakers. "For me, hearing 'Hatikvah' again each time is the greatest thing there is," he said after the final, according to Ynet.
He was frank about the challenge of staying at the front of a field that keeps getting younger. "I know I'm still at the top and proved it again, otherwise I wouldn't compete," he said, adding that his performance in Zagreb was also shaped by having already gone through the team competition earlier in the championships.
Israel's team finished tenth in the men's team all-around in Zagreb, but that was enough to meet the qualifying standard for this year's World Championships, giving the national program a foothold heading into the next major test.
Dolgopyat's floor exercise resume is arguably the deepest of any Israeli athlete in any sport: Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, Olympic silver at Paris 2024, a world title in 2023 and world silvers in 2017 and 2019, on top of the three European golds and four European silvers.
He is now looking two months ahead to the World Championships in Rotterdam, with continued qualification toward the next Olympic cycle also on his mind, even as he keeps racking up medals against gymnasts a decade or more his junior.
