Alexander "Alex" Shatilov (, ; born March 22, 1987) is a USSR-born

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i artistic gymnast. He specializes in the floor exercise, in which he won several medals at World and European Championships, reached the finals at the 2008 and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and competed in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. In 2013, Shatilov won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the European Championship in gymnastics in Moscow, Russia. He represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Alexander Shatilov was born in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Soviet Uzbekistan, in a family of Russian-Jewish descent. He began his gymnastics training in Uzbekistan at the age of 5. He immigrated to

with his family in 2002. He is unusually tall for a gymnast, at 183 cm or 6 ft.

Athletic career

Shatilov placed seventh at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and became the first Israeli gymnast in a world apparatus final. He placed fifth on floor exercise at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He also won a gold medal in the Glasgow World Cup in 2008. Shatilov represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the qualifying stage, he placed 8th on the floor apparatus and qualified for the final. He placed 29th overall, and just missed the cut for the all-around final. In the floor final he failed to improve his ranking and placed last of the eight finalists, which was still the best ever achievement in artistic gymnastics for an Israeli gymnast. He won

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s in the floor exercise at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and became the first Israeli to win a medal at both events. He won four gold medals and two silver medals at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in gymnastics. He suffered a serious knee injury in the spring of 2010, and missed the European championships, but recovered in time to place fourth at the

2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at the Rotterdam Ahoy indoor sporting arena in the Netherlands from 16 to 24 October 2010. In this year's championships, there was a total of 73 participating federations with 615 gymnast ...

. Shatilov was awarded the title of Athlete of the Year in Israel in 2009 and 2013. In 2011, he won the silver medal in the floor exercise at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At the 2011 World Championships, he won the bronze medal in the floor exercise, and finished 13th in the all-around final. His achievement qualified him to compete for Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Shatilov tied for 4th on

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from wikt:hovel, simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the ex ...

and placed 12th overall, qualifying for the finals in both events. In the men's floor final, Shatilov scored 15.333, and tied with American Jacob Dalton, but was placed beneath him because Dalton's execution points were higher. In the end, Shatilov placed 6th out of eight athletes. In April 2013, Shatilov won a gold medal at the European Championship in Gymnastics in Moscow, Russia. He received a 15.333 score, and shared first place with British gymnast Max Whitlock. Shatilov is the first Israeli gymnast to win the European Championship. In May 2016 he won the bronze medal in the floor exercise at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Bern, Switzerland Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. In June 2016 he won a gold medal in the floor final at the World Challenge Cup competition in Anadia, Portugal, with a score of 15.100 after qualifying with a 15.350. He competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in his third Olympic Games. He did not pass the qualifying round, after scoring a 14.066 in the men's horizontal bar and a 13.5 in his floor exercise. In April 2017, Shatilov won the bronze medal in the floor exercise at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. He received a 14.400 score. He was chosen to represent Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics. However, with a 13.5, he did not qualify for the final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Media Appearances

In 2022, Shatilov won the 8th season of Israel's

Rokdim Im Kokhavim Rokdim Im Kokhavim (, "Dancing with Stars") is the Israel, Israeli version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show features local celebrity, celebrities par ...

('Dancing with the Stars'), dancing with Nina Soloviev.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shatilov, Alexander 1987 births Living people Israeli male artistic gymnasts Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Uzbekistani-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli sportspeople Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Israel Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in gymnastics Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Israel Uzbekistani emigrants to Israel Uzbekistani Jews Jewish Russian sportspeople European Games competitors for Israel Gymnasts at the 2015 European Games Gymnasts at the 2019 European Games Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Dancing with the Stars winners 21st-century Israeli sportsmen

Early life

Athletic career

Media Appearances

See also

References

External links