Linoy Ashramwho took home a gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, ad on Monday that he retires from the sport at the age of 22.
“Today, on this festive occasion, I announce my withdrawal from competition,” an emotional Ashram said, fighting back tears at a news conference on Monday. “Athletes have to know when to retire, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ve achieved my dream. I reached my professional peak, and I have decided that the time is right to continue on the same path, but this time from the other side of the tatami”.
In the future, Linoy Ashram will be part of the coaching staff of the Israel gymnastics team.
In August, Ashram won first place in the rhythmic gymnastics all-around competition, beating Russian sisters Dina and Arina Averina, who were the big favorites.
Ashram on Monday described his first training session at the Tokyo Olympic venue last summer, and the fears and stress he experienced.
“A lot of different thoughts went through my head,” he recalled. “I told myself that the moment she had waited for so long had come. I had finally reached the most important moment of my career, for which I had worked for 15 years.
In the midst of the wave of emotions, Linoy Ashram He said: “I understood that I had reached the final station of my journey… I felt that a whole country was under my wings.”
Yael Arad, a former Olympic judo medalist and current president of the Israel Olympic Committee, said Ashram is “an incredible athlete, but also an exemplary person… we will be by her side all the time.”
Ashram has been competing in international competitions since 2014, and has to his credit nearly 100 medals from various international competitions.
Coming into the Tokyo Games, Israel had only one Olympic gold medal, from windsurfer Gal Fridman in 2004. Before Linoy Ashram stepped on the mat in Tokyo, fellow Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won a gold medal in the men’s floor exercise, Israel’s second, and then Ashram took third in Israel’s best Olympic entry.
Dolgopyat, 24, has stated his intention to work to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
