Sunday August 1, 2021
I've Been Thinking:

Israel loves sports and Israelis love the Olympics. They also love to win and to get medals. What country doesn’t?

Hearing the Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, being played while an Israeli stands on the winner podium makes every Israeli’s chest swell with pride.

It almost makes it feel as if all the bad press Israel is bombarded with is worth it.
Especially when Israel has just won a gold.
Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in artistic gymnastics, the floor exercise. The win was impressive. Artem was impressive.

Israel’s president called Israel’s star athlete and congratulated him. President Herzog said: "We are all very excited and I congratulate you. We are all looking forward to seeing you in Jerusalem soon. You are a source of pride to many children who will surely follow in your footsteps.”

Dolgopyat told Herzog that he did it all "for the people of Israel" and expressed his happiness that "all of our nation watched me [during the final]."

In his call to Artem after the win, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: "You made history here. We stopped the cabinet meeting in the middle to congratulate you for bringing us this great news".

“On behalf of the government of Israel and on behalf of the citizens of Israel - we are all proud of you and look forward to your return to Israel for the celebrations”.
Bennett and the members of his cabinet had interrupted their weekly Sunday morning cabinet meeting to watch the floor performance.

This is the second gold medal for Israel in the history of their participation in the Olympic Games.

In Israel, people disagree over politics but they are united in their national pride.

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