VIDEO SHOWS: FILE OF TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST, ARTEM DOLGOPYAT, ARRIVING IN ISRAEL AFTER WINNING GOLD AT THE TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS; SOUNDBITES FROM ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY SARIT SHENAR. SHOWS: BEN GURION AIRPORT, ISRAEL (FILE – AUGUST 3, 2021) (Reuters – Access all) 1. VARIOUS OF ISRAELI GYMNAST ARTEM DOLGOPYAT, WHO WON THE MEN'S INDIVIDUAL FLOOR EXERCISE AT THE TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES, RETURNING TO HERO'S WELCOME AT BEN GURION AIRPORT. UNKNOWN LOCATION, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 14, 2025) (Reuters – Access all) 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, SARIT SHENAR, SAYING: "We were really shocked. We were not ready for that kind of sanction. Our athletes have been training for the World Championship for a while. This is the major competition of the year. And we were ready to compete and not to deal with politics. We were ready to deal with gymnastics, and we were really shocked. Very big disappointment." 3. WHITE FLASH 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, SARIT SHENAR, SAYING: "We've communicated with them several times and tried to keep them motivated and focused in the competition. It was definitely one of my hardest moments, speaking to them earlier, a few hours ago, having to tell them that they're not going to go. It was devastating." 5. WHITE FLASH 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, SARIT SHENAR, SAYING: "This team is composed of six gymnasts. Artem [Dolgopyat] is very experienced, you know, a top athlete, but you know, we also have like a gymnast that for her was the first world championship. There were a lot of emotions and tears and the guys also, you know, for them, some of them, it can be the last championship. They're really heartbreaking. They're shocked." 7. WHITE FLASH 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, SARIT SHENAR, SAYING: "In my eyes, it's not even about gymnastics. This is sport. If you want to have a fair sport, everybody should compete. There shouldn't be any discrimination against anybody for any reason. And I'm sure actually the competition, the people that are going to go and compete this next weekend, they're not going to be happy. Well, maybe some of them are happier because they have greater chances. But I think that everybody that's honest and that wants to have to win the medal is— you want to win the medals against the strongest competitors. It's not fair to win without a competition." 9. WHITE FLASH 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI GYMNASTICS FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY, SARIT SHENAR, SAYING: "For this world championship, this is the end of the road. So we cannot, no matter what will happen for the gymnast, we cannot fix their hearts. They're going to be, they're hurt anyway. But of course, for the future, for future Israeli sports, for future world sports, I want to see a very strong decision that leaves no room for such decisions from any kind to any country, to any international federation. Our biggest fear is that it starts now and who knows what's next. So I really, really hope that the CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] will give a very strong decision that will intimidate anybody that has such crazy ideas to discriminate against any athlete from any country for any reason. and not to do so. This is not part of the Olympic Charter, and this is not part of the sports that we like to watch. We want to see fair play, we want to see tough competitions, and we want everything to be decided in the field of play and not in court or in governments or in political authorities." INTERNET (OCTOBER 14, 2025) (Internet – Access all) 11. INSTAGRAM POST FROM ARTEM DOLGOPYAT STORY: The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) has called on global sporting authorities to intervene, to ensure sport remains fair and free from discrimination. The plea came after six Israeli gymnasts were denied visas to Indonesia, costing them a spot in this month's World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Jakarta. The Southeast Asian nation said on Friday (October, 10) it had denied visas to Israeli gymnasts amid an outcry over Israel's military offensive in Gaza. The decision prompted the IGF to submit an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), seeking an injunction to allow Israeli athletes, including Olympic gold medallist Artem Dolgopyat, to participate in the competition. Today (October, 14), Cas rejected their request. Indonesia, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, cited objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the local government in the capital Jakarta, where the championship will be held from October 19, for its decision to bar the athletes. The two-year-old war has drawn strong criticism in Indonesia. (Productions: Lucy Thomson)
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