Olympic and world champion will auction a medal to collaborate with victims in the Gaza Strip

It’s Saturday, October 7, and while the Gaza Strip, Israel and Palestine are entering a war, Israeli Olympic champion Artem Dolgopyat wins his first world title on floor in Antwerp. He is, without a doubt, the gymnast who masters the specialty. He won the test at Tokyo 2020 and confirmed his dominance in the most demanding competition of 2023. “A very difficult day for our country. I finish the day as world champion, but my head and heart are at home. I hope I can give them some comfort. Praying for better days”, was Dolgopyat’s message on his official Instagram profile, along with a photo showing that medal.

Almost three months after that unprecedented achievement for Israeli sports, the gymnast, the most important in the history of his country together with Linoy Ashram, announced that he will auction that gold medal to help the victims of the Hamas attacks.

The decision was announced through a video of just over a minute long published on social media. The gymnast, dressed in a shirt and looking at the camera, summarized to his sports community some of his feelings in the midst of the extremely difficult geopolitical situation: “On Saturday, October 7, about 80 days ago, while Israel was under attack by Hamas, I climbed to the World Championship podium with the Israeli flag and the black ribbons. I dedicated my historic achievement to my country and to the surrounding inhabitants,” said the Olympic floor champion. He then said: “Since then I have reflected with myself on how I can significantly help the victims of the Gaza Strip, beyond my participation in community activities and in direct meetings with families of displaced persons. After examining several options, I decided to auction off the prestigious sentimental value medal, with all proceeds to help surrounding settlements.”

Dolgopyat confessed that it is not easy for him to part with the distinguished award: “I say goodbye to the medal without pain, but with a lot of emotion. It’s a beautiful medal,” he said, adding that it embodies all his dreams and the pinnacle of his aspirations. “Today I know that Israeli society is more important than anything else. I won’t lie, it’s not easy for me, but I feel that through the auction I can really give something back to the country that has given me so much.”

In an interview with Yair Weinreb and Eran Cicurel on the public broadcaster KAN, Dolgopyat spoke about the reactions of his friends in the world of sports to the terrible events that occurred since the outbreak of the war: “At the World Championship a lot of people asked me about what was happening. I received a lot of support from Ukraine.”

Dolgopyat, 26, was born in Dnipro, Ukraine and moved to Israel in 2009, when he was 12 years old. He was world runner-up on floor in the 2017 and 2019 world championships, before winning the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021. In 2022, he was also European champion on the same device.