Artem Dolgopyat stuck his landing in Zagreb on Friday evening, raised his arms, and added another line to what is quietly becoming the most decorated individual career in Israeli sporting history. His 14.466 on floor exercise at the European Gymnastics Championships was enough for gold, his third continental title on the apparatus, and it has prompted ONE to ask a question that no longer sounds like hyperbole: is Dolgopyat already Israel's greatest athlete?
The final in Croatia was tight only on paper. Arsenii Dukhno, the Russian gymnast competing as a neutral under the World Gymnastics 2 designation, took silver with 14.333, while Britain's Harry Hepworth was third on 14.300. Dolgopyat, 29, controlled the routine from the opening tumbling pass and never looked troubled by the field around him.
It was his third European floor title, following victories in 2020 and 2022, and it moves him level with Romanian great Marian Drăgulescu's record haul of medals on the apparatus at the championships, according to ONE. Between the Olympics, World Championships and Europeans, Dolgopyat has now reached 15 major finals on floor exercise and left with a medal from 12 of them — missing out just three times.
The floor résumé sits inside a wider body of work that already ranks among the best Israel has produced in any sport: two Olympic medals — gold at Tokyo 2020 and silver at Paris 2024 — three World Championship medals and eight European Championship medals across his events. Few Israeli athletes in any discipline have sustained that level of podium consistency for close to a decade.
ONE's comparison points to two other Israeli greats as the benchmark. Arik Ze'evi, the judoka who competed at four Olympics and retired with nine European Championship medals including four golds, has long been held up as the standard for longevity and continental dominance. Swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko, by ONE's count, has gone one better again with six European gold medals and no colour below it.
By that measure Dolgopyat is closing in on Ze'evi's medal count but still trails Gorbenko's run of pure gold — a gap ONE frames as the last obstacle between him and the title of Israel's finest-ever competitor.
What tips the argument in Dolgopyat's favour, in ONE's telling, is what still lies ahead. At 29, and with the discipline and mileage he has shown deep into his career, a third Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 is a realistic target. A medal there — of any colour — would make him the first Israeli athlete to stand on an Olympic podium three times, a distinction that would be difficult for any rival, past or present, to match.
Dolgopyat's story has always carried an extra layer beyond the scoresheets. Born in Ukraine, he moved to Israel with his family at 12 and rose through the ranks of Israeli gymnastics to become, in Tokyo, the country's first-ever Olympic gold medallist in the sport. Five years and a Paris silver later, Zagreb was another reminder that his prime shows no sign of ending.
