At 29, Dolgopyat has already won Olympic gold and silver, a world title and three European crowns; after another victory in Zagreb, he says he is still among the best and is now targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Gamesynet|Artem Dolgopyat has long been more than an outstanding gymnast. He has a strong claim to being the most successful Israeli athlete in history, repeatedly staying among the world’s elite in a discipline where one small mistake can mean the difference between a medal and missing the podium entirely.On Friday in Zagreb, he added another chapter to that record by winning the European floor exercise title for the third time in his career.GalleryArtem Dolgopyat (Photo: Denis Vakhrushev, courtesy of the Israel Gymnastics Federation)The gold came at the end of an unusually demanding week. Dolgopyat did not compete only on floor, but also took part in the all-around and helped Israel finish 10th as a team, securing the team qualification standard for the World Championships. The workload took a physical toll, and by the floor final he could feel the difficulty of recovering between events.“I’m already at an age where the performances are harder for me, especially after competing in the all-around. Recovery is difficult, so my routine in the final was less good,” Dolgopyat said after the victory. “I’m 29 and I have to compete against younger rivals who do things I can’t do anymore.”Yet even at 29, facing younger gymnasts and an increasingly demanding physical load, Dolgopyat again proved that when the pressure peaks, he remains capable of producing the performance that matters most.To understand the scale of Dolgopyat’s career, it is worth going back five years to Tokyo.At the 2020 Olympics, held in the summer of 2021 because of the pandemic, Dolgopyat produced one of the greatest moments in Israeli sports history. He scored 14.933 in the floor final and became Olympic champion.Tokyo 2020 (Photo: gettyimages)The battle for gold was especially dramatic. Dolgopyat and Spain’s Rayderley Zapata received the same score, but the Israeli won the title because his routine carried a higher difficulty rating.The medal was far more than another personal achievement. It was only the second Olympic gold in Israel’s history and the country’s first in artistic gymnastics. Dolgopyat, who immigrated to Israel from Ukraine as a child, joined the very small group of Israeli Olympic champions.Paris 2024 (Photo: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)Three years later, at Paris 2024, he returned to the biggest stage. This time the road was more complicated and the final demanded a difficult mental battle, but Dolgopyat again produced at the highest level and won silver with a score of 14.966. Only the Philippines’ Carlos Yulo finished ahead of him.The result made Dolgopyat the first Israeli gymnast to win two individual Olympic medals, gold and silver, and one of the few Israeli athletes to medal at consecutive Games.One of the most extraordinary chapters of Dolgopyat’s career came on the most devastating day Israel had experienced since its founding.On October 7, 2023, hours after Hamas launched its attack on Israel, Dolgopyat competed in the floor final at the World Championships in Antwerp. For other athletes, it was another competition day. For him, the circumstances were entirely different.Dolgopyat managed to rise above them and win gold, claiming his first world title on floor. At the medal ceremony, the Israeli flag was displayed with black ribbons in memory of the victims of the massacre.The title completed Dolgopyat’s collection of the sport’s biggest honors. Alongside his Olympic medals and world championship, he has now won European gold three times, in 2020, 2022 and 2026, as well as four European silvers in 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024. At the World Championships, he has a gold from 2023 and silver medals from 2017 and 2019.Israeli flag with black ribbons on October 7, 2023 (Photo: AP Photo/Geert vanden Wijngaert)The latest victory in Zagreb is also a reminder that his story is far from over. In recent years, Dolgopyat has had to manage injuries and increasingly heavy physical demands. He is no longer the young gymnast who first broke into the international elite, yet he continues to find ways to remain there.“I know I’m still at the top and I proved it again, otherwise I wouldn’t be competing,” he said. “For me, hearing Hatikva again and again is the greatest thing there is.”That line perhaps captures his career better than anything else. Time after time, with expectations enormous and pressure at its highest, Dolgopyat manages to reach the decisive moment and prove he is still there.The celebrations in Zagreb will not last long. Dolgopyat is already turning his attention to the World Championships in Rotterdam in about two months.“The next important target of the season is the World Championships in Rotterdam in two months,” he said. “There’s no time to recover. We’re already starting preparations.”Beyond that lies the next major goal: Los Angeles 2028. Dolgopyat has set himself the clear target of reaching a third Olympic Games and securing his place there.(Photo: AP/Geert vanden Wijngaert)“It was important for us to achieve the team qualification standard for the World Championships, and that made things harder for me,” he said. “But next year I want to secure my place at the Olympic Games in China, and then we’ll start thinking about them.”For now, he can afford a brief look back.Olympic champion. Olympic silver medalist. World champion. Three-time European champion.And all of it in a sport where careers can be short, bodies wear down quickly and the gap between triumph and disappointment is often measured in fractions of a point.