Israeli gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat can't get married in own country
Artem Dolgopyat won Israel’s second-ever gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in men’s gymnastics, but isn’t considered Jewish by religious authorities.
Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. The athlete was only the second Israeli ever to take home a gold medal from the Olympic Games. Dolgopyat won in artistic gymnastics, where athletes perform short routines on different structures.
Shortly after his victory, Artem's mother told Israeli radio that her son is not considered Jewish and is therefore unable to marry as a Jew in the country — despite being celebrated in Israel. This reality was also pointed out on Israeli social media and reported by local news outlets.
Dolgopyat was born in Ukraine and moved to Israel in 2009 at the age of 12 with his family. His first language is Russian and he learned Hebrew in gyms, according to his profile on the International Gymnastics Federation website. More than a million people of Jewish descent have immigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel since the 1990s.
Dolgopyat's father is Jewish but his mother Angela told the Israeli press on Sunday that she is not. Israel does not have civil marriage and the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious authorities have a monopoly on officiating marriages. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate adheres to Orthodox Judaism, which holds that Judaism is solely passed on through one’s mother and does not condone intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews. Therefore, Dolgopyat is not considered Jewish in Israel.
