Israel at the
Olympics
IOC codeISR
NOCOlympic Committee of Israel
Websitewww.olympicsil.co.il (in Hebrew and English)
Medals
Ranked 82nd
Gold
3
Silver
1
Bronze
9
Total
13
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

Israel has competed at the Olympic Games as a nation since 1952. Its National Olympic Committee was formed in 1933, during the British Mandate of Palestine.[1] Israel has sent a team to each Summer Olympic Games since 1952 (except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics), and to each Winter Olympic Games since 1994. The country became a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in 1994.

Medal tables

Medals by summer sport

Sports  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
Sailing 102329
Artistic gymnastics 100135
Rhythmic gymnastics 10017
Judo 015638
Canoeing 001142
Taekwondo 001138
Total3191382

List of medalists

Games Sport Event Medal Name Ref.
1992 Barcelona Judo Women's -61 kg  Silver Yael Arad [2]
Men's -71 kg  Bronze Oren Smadja [3]
1996 Atlanta Sailing Men's sailboard  Bronze Gal Fridman [4]
2000 Sydney Canoeing Men's K-1 500 metres  Bronze Michael Kolganov [5]
2004 Athens Sailing Men's sailboard  Gold Gal Fridman [4]
Judo Men's -100 kg  Bronze Ariel Zeevi [6]
2008 Beijing Sailing Men's sailboard  Bronze Shahar Tzuberi [7]
2016 Rio de Janeiro Judo Women's -63 kg  Bronze Yarden Gerbi [8]
Men's +100 kg  Bronze Or Sasson [9]
2020 Tokyo Gymnastics Men's floor  Gold Artem Dolgopyat [10]
Gymnastics Women's rhythmic individual all-around  Gold Linoy Ashram [11]
Taekwondo Women's -49 kg  Bronze Avishag Semberg [12]
Judo Mixed team  Bronze Israel national judo team
 [13]

History

Israeli postal stamp, 1964

In 1933 the Palestine National Olympic Committee was officially formed, and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in May 1934,[14] despite never competing (the 1936 games were held in Nazi Germany and were boycotted by this Jewish Olympic committee, while the 1940 and 1944 games were cancelled due to World War II).[1] Although the Palestine National committee represented Muslims, Jews, and Christians living in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine, its rules stated that they "represent[ed] the Jewish National Home."[1] In 1948, shortly after the State of Israel was established, its request to participate in the 1948 Olympics was denied, as Mandatory Palestine had ceased to exist and the newly formed State of Israel wasn't yet recognized by IOC.[15]

Israel was previously part of the Asian Games Federation until it was disbanded in 1981. In 1982 instead of joining the new Olympic Council of Asia, Israel opted to join the European Olympic Committees.[16]

Competing

Israel won its first Olympic medal in its tenth Olympic appearance, in 1992, in Judo when Yael Arad won a silver medal.[2] She was followed a day later by another judoka, Oren Smadja, who won bronze.[3] Since then, Israel won a bronze medal in five successive Summer Olympics until the streak ended in 2012. Additionally, in 2004, Gal Fridman became Israel's first gold medallist, in men's windsurfing.[4] This was his second medal, following his bronze in 1996,[4] and he is the only individual multi-medallist. Israel also won 2 bronze medals in 2016. In the postponed 2020 Games Israel received 2 gold medals, won by Artem Dolgopyat in men's gymnastics (floor routine), and Linoy Ashram in women's rhythmic gymnastics (individual all-around), and 2 bronze medals, one won by Avishag Semberg in taekwondo, and 1 won by the judo Mixed team. As a member of the Israel national judo Mixed team, Ori Sasson became Israel's second multi-medalist, while the latter bronze one is a shared one. Through 2018, Israel has not won any medals in the Winter Olympics.

Ágnes Keleti, who emigrated to Israel in 1957, holds more medals than any other Israeli citizen. During the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics Ágnes won 10 medals competing for Hungary at the Olympics.[17] The only Jew to hold more medals than Keleti is American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won 11.[18]

Israel has been more successful at the Paralympic Games than at the Olympics, with 375 medals between 1960 and 2016.[19]

Conflicts with nations

1972 Summer Olympics

Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the Munich massacre.[20] The tragedy caused the Israeli delegation to withdraw from the remainder of the Games.

The murdered people were:

On 3 August 2016, two days prior to the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee officially honored the Israelis killed for the first time.[21] They were also honored during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

1980 Summer Olympics

Israel was one of the countries that boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but also because of Soviet opposition to Israel and Zionism.[22]

2004 Summer Olympics

An Iranian judoka, Arash Miresmaeili, did not compete in a match against Israeli Ehud Vaks during the 2004 Summer Olympics, due to the government of Iran having taken steps to avoid any competition between its athletes and those from Israel. He was officially disqualified for being overweight, however Miresmaeli was awarded US$125,000 in prize money by the Iranian government, an amount paid to all Iranian gold medal winners. The International Judo Federation conducted an investigation to see if he intentionally came in overweight in order to miss the bout. He was officially cleared of intentionally avoiding the bout, but his receipt of the prize money raised suspicion.[23]

2016 Summer Olympics

Israeli judoka Ori Sasson

Saudi Arabian judoka, Joud Fahmy, forfeited her match in the 2016 Summer Olympics possibly in order to avoid competing against Israeli Gili Cohen.[24] Later in the 2016 Summer Olympics, Israeli Or Sasson defeated Egyptian judoka Islam El Shahaby in the first round, after the match ended, Sasson tried to shake his opponent's hand, but El Shahaby refused.[25]

Prior to the 2016 opening ceremony, the Lebanese delegation was assigned to ride on the same bus as the Israeli delegation.[26] The head of the Lebanese team, Salim al-Haj Nicolas, admitted that he demanded that the bus door be closed on the Israeli team, and that the Lebanese demanded that the Israeli athletes not board the bus. Udi Gal, an Israeli Olympic sailor, said his team ultimately decided to travel separately to avoid an "international and physical incident" but added "How could they let this happen on the eve of the Olympic Games? Isn't this the opposite of what the Olympics represents?"[27]

Olympic participants

Summer Olympics

Sport 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Total
Archery 11
Athletics 71852217 4495438979
Badminton 1124
Baseball 2424
Basketball 13 13
Boxing 23 1 6
Canoeing/Kayaking 1 1531 11
Cycling 2 226
Diving 11 2
Equestrian 44
Fencing 2 214 13113 18
Football 19 17 36
Golf 1 1
Gymnastics 3 1531 1281071051
Judo 12 42353571250
Sailing 21545566776559
Shooting 4 23421 23322311134
Surfing 11
Swimming 114261231541149791383
Synchronized swimming 2226
Table tennis 1 1
Taekwondo 11 114
Tennis 141 2431 16
Triathlon 123
Weightlifting 2 311 31 11 13
Wrestling 31 24133 1 18
Total263231031152737193125413543374790540

Winter Olympics

Sport 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Total
Alpine Skiing 111126
Figure Skating 1344237327
Short Track Speed Skating 1 1114
Skeleton 1 1
Total13553510638

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jeroen (11 August 2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. ISBN 9780810875227.
  2. 1 2 "Yael Arad, Judoka, JudoInside". judoinside.com.
  3. 1 2 "Shay-Oren Smadja, Judoka, JudoInside". judoinside.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Gal Fridman". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14.
  5. ↑ "Michael Kolganov". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03.
  6. ↑ "Ariel Zeevi, Judoka, JudoInside". judoinside.com.
  7. ↑ "Olympics – Sailing – Dempsey misses windsurfing medal". BBC Sport. 20 August 2008.
  8. ↑ "Yarden Gerbi wins bronze medal in judo, Israel's first medal of the Rio Olympics – Sports". Haaretz.com.
  9. ↑ "Or Sassson wins Israel's second judo bronze at Rio Games". Times of Israel.
  10. ↑ Aharoni, Oren (1 August 2021). "Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat claims gold at Tokyo Games". Ynet.
  11. ↑ Halickman, Joshua; Zonshine, Idan (7 August 2021). "Olympics: Rhythmic Gymnast Linoy Ashram wins gold medal for Israel". The Jerusalem Post.
  12. ↑ "Olympics: Israeli Avishag Semberg wins bronze in taekwondo". The Jerusalem Post. 25 July 2021.
  13. ↑ Katzir, Itamar (31 July 2021). "Israeli Mixed Judo Team Wins Bronze, Defeating Russia 4-1 at Tokyo Olympics". Haaretz.
  14. ↑ Galily, Yair; Ben-Porat, Amir (31 October 2013). Sport, Politics and Society in the Land of Israel. ISBN 9781317967910.
  15. ↑ Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jeroen (2011-08-11). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7522-7.
  16. ↑ "Israel". eurolympic.org. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15.
  17. ↑ AGNES KELETI (KLEIN)
  18. ↑ MARK SPITZ
  19. ↑ "Israel". paralympic.org.
  20. ↑ Aubrey, Stefan M. (2004). The New Dimension of International Terrorism. ISBN 9783728129499.
  21. ↑ First official Olympic ceremony held in memory of Munich victims
  22. ↑ TIMELINE: Jews in the Summer Olympics
  23. ↑ "Europe – Mystery over Iran judo 'protest'". BBC NEWS. 15 August 2004.
  24. ↑ Saudi judoka forfeits Rio match, apparently to avoid Israeli
  25. ↑ Rio Olympics 2016 - Egypt Judo Fighter El Shehabt refuses to shake hands of Israeli Or Sasson
  26. ↑ "Israel protests after Lebanese athletes refuse to share Olympic bus". The Guardian. 2016-08-08. Archived from the original on 2022-08-18.
  27. ↑ Rio 2016 Olympics: Lebanese athletes refuse to travel with Israel team
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