Top Israeli Gymnast on Potential Olympic Qualification: ‘I’m Thinking Only of This Goal’
Record-breaking Israeli gymnast Linoy Ashram. Photo: Ayelet Zussman via Wikimedia Commons.
An Israeli champion gymnast who has won three gold medals in European and world competitions is now set on qualifying for the next Olympic Games, saying, “I’m thinking only of this goal.”
Linoy Ashram just returned to Israel from the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus, with four medals, two of them gold.
The Israeli news site Mako reported that Ashram called the event “an intensive weekend, both training and competition. The competition started well and ended on the first day with a little disappointment.”
After an initial setback, Ashram said, she succeeded in regaining her composure and finishing strong.
She had also been briefly sidelined with an injury during 2018, but said, “I was treated at the highest level possible and succeeded in coming to the [2019] European games at full power.”
This was necessary, she said, because “Anyone who competed in Minsk is the best in Europe and the world.”
Ashram said she doesn’t concentrate on the past, however, and “I do not count how many medals I have. Many.”
As for the future, she said, “I’m trying not to think beyond the upcoming World Championship in September, which is the criterion for the Olympics. In the meantime, I’m thinking only of this goal, I do not think beyond.”