Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with its largest contingent to date − a delegation of 90 athletes, 55 men and 35 women, who competed in 15 different sports. This was almost double the previous number of 47 athletes who represented Israel at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The Games were also Israel's most successful to date, winning four medals, including two gold. At Tokyo, Israel marked its Olympic debuts in surfing (new to the 2020 Games), baseball (returning to the Games), archery, equestrian and marathon swimming.
Israel returned home from Tokyo with two gold and two bronze medals, a record number of medals won by Israel in one Olympics. Artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in the men's floor exercise and rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the gold medal at the women's rhythmic individual all-around event. Taekwondo practitioner Avishag Semberg won the bronze medal in the Women's 49 kg category and the national judo team won another bronze medal in the mixed team event. Several Israeli athletes advanced to the finals of their respective sporting events, but narrowly missed out on standing on the winner's podium.
Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic until 23 July to 8 August 2021. Since Israel's debut in 1952, Israeli athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, other than the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which it opted not to attend because of the nation's support for the US-led boycott. This was Israel's 17th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Backstroke swimmer Yakov Toumarkin and triple jumper Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko were chosen as the nation's flag bearers at the opening ceremony and Linoy Ashram was chosen as the nation's flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Also, for the first time since 11 Israeli athletes and a West German police officer were murdered during the Munich Olympics in 1972 by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, a moment of silence was held during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Medalists
Medal Name Sport Event Date Artem Dolgopyat Gymnastics Men's floor Linoy Ashram Gymnastics Rhythmic individual all-around Avishag Semberg Taekwondo Women's 49 kg Judo Mixed team
Competitors
The Israeli delegation included 90 athletes, competing in 15 sports. SportMenWomenTotal Artistic swimming 2 2Archery 1 0 1 Athletics 3 6 9 Badminton 1 1 2 Baseball 24 24Cycling 1 1 2Equestrian 2 2 4 Gymnastics 2 8 10 Judo 6 6 12 Sailing 1 4 5 Shooting 1 0 1 Swimming 10 3 13 Surfing 0 1 1 Taekwondo 0 1 1 Triathlon 2 0 2 Weightlifting 1 0 1 Total 55 35 90
This was Alexander Shatilov's fourth appearance at the Olympics, and Sergey Richter's, Yakov Toumarkin's, and Misha Zilberman's third appearance. Nine members of the delegation participated in the games for the second time: Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Gili Cohen, Shlomi Haimy, Sagi Muki, Andrea Murez, Shira Rishony, Or Sasson, Marhu Teferi, and Maor Tiyouri.
This was Alberto Michán's third appearance at the Olympics, but was the first time he represented Israel. Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko also appeared for the third time at the Olympics, but only for the second time as part of the Israeli delegation.
Seven athletes from the delegation had previously participated in the Youth Olympic Games: Linoy Ashram, Gal Cohen Groumi, Artem Dolgopyat, Anastasia Gorbenko, Denis Loktev, Avishag Semberg, and Yakov Toumarkin.
Schedule This schedule shows all the events in which Israeli athletes have participated or may participate.
All times and dates use Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) OC Opening ceremony 1 Event competitions 1 Medal events EG Exhibition gala CC Closing ceremony
July/August 202123Fri24Sat25Sun26Mon27Tue28Wed29Thu30Fri31Sat1Sun2Mon3Tue4Wed5Thu6Fri7Sat8Sun Ceremonies OC CCAquatics Artistic swimming !
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! Swimming ! | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 4 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1
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! Athletics !
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| bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 Badminton ! | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 1
! Baseball !
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!Cycling Road cycling ! | | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1
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! Equestrian !
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! Rhythmic !
| bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 Judo ! | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1
! Sailing ! | | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=3399ff| 3 | bgcolor=3399ff| 4 | bgcolor=3399ff| 2 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 2 | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | | bgcolor=3399ff| 1 | bgcolor=ffcc00| 1
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! Triathlon !
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Archery
One Israeli archer qualified directly for the men's individual recurve at the Games, by reaching the quarterfinals and obtaining one of the seven available spots at the 2021 Final Qualification Tournament in Paris, France. This marked Israel's debut in Olympic archery.
AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankItay ShannyMen's individual635 60W 7–3W 6–5L 5–6Did not advance9
Artistic swimming
Israel fielded a squad of two artistic swimmers to compete in the women's duet event, by finishing sixth at the 2021 FINA Olympic Qualification Tournament in Barcelona, Spain.
AthleteEventFree routine (preliminary)Technical routineFree routine (final)PointsRankPointsTotal (technical + free)RankPointsTotal (technical + free)RankEden BlecherShelly BobritskyDuet84.63331683.8580168.491315Did not advance
Athletics
Nine Israeli athletes met the entry standards, either by qualifying time or by world ranking, in the following track and field events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):
Track & road events Men AthleteEventFinalResultRankHaimro AlameMarathon2:17:1737Girmaw Amare2:16:1728Marhu Teferi2:13:0213
Women AthleteEventHeat QuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankDiana Vaisman100 mcolspan=2 11.27 SB4Did not advanceSelamawit Dagnachew5000 m14:53.43 NR8 qcolspan=4 14:54.391010000 mcolspan=6 32:46.4623Adva Cohen3000 m steeplechase10:05.9514colspan=4 Did not advanceLonah Chemtai SalpeterMarathonrowspan=2 colspan=6 2:48:31 66Maor Tiyouri 2:37:52 48
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionHanna Knyazyeva-MinenkoWomen's triple jump14.36 SB8 q14.60 SB6
Badminton
Israel entered two badminton players (one per gender) into the Olympic tournament. Misha Zilberman and Ksenia Polikarpova were selected to compete at the Games each in the men's and women's singles based on the BWF World Race to Tokyo Rankings.
AthleteEventGroup StageEliminationQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankMisha ZilbermanMen's singlesW (21–17, 21–15)L (21–17, 9–21, 10–21)2Did not advance15Ksenia PolikarpovaWomen's singlesL (7–21, 10–21)L (15–21, 21–15, 16–21)3Did not advance15
Baseball
The current Israel national baseball team that competes at the 2020 Summer Olympics is composed mostly of American Jews with only four Israeli-born players.
The Israel national baseball team qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal at the 2019 WSBC Africa and Europe Qualification Tournament in Italy and securing an outright berth, marking the country's Olympic debut in baseball.
Team Group Stage Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 repechage Final / OppositionScore OppositionScore Rank OppositionScore OppositionScore OppositionScore OppositionScore Rank National baseball team L (5–6) L (1–8) 3 W (12–5) L (1–11) L (6–7) Did not advance 5
Team roster
Group play
Round 1
Round 2
Round 1 repechage
Cycling
Road
Israeli road cyclist Omer Shapira ranked 60th in the Individual UCI World Ranking for women with 316.17 points and won a quota for Israel. Shapira also finished 13th at the Women individual time trial event at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, but after decreasing to one athlete per country, Shapira placed eighth. The first 10 places automatically qualified their country to the women's individual time trial event. The Israel Cycling Federation decided that Shapira would be the Israeli road cyclist representative for the games.
AthleteEventTimeRank Omer ShapiraWomen's road race 3:55:2324Women's time trial 33:15.8415
Mountain biking Israel qualified one men mountain biker based on the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships when Shlomi Haimy finished in 30th place. Israel was the second-highest ranked country which had not yet qualified any quota places through the UCI Olympic Mountain Biking rankings. The Israel Cycling Federation decided that Haimy would be the Israeli mountain biker representative for the games.
AthleteEventTimeRank Shlomi HaimyMen's cross-country 1:36:58 33
Equestrian
Israel fielded a squad of three equestrian riders in the Olympic team jumping competition. In July 2019, Team Israel's Daniel Bluman, Ashlee Bond, Danielle G. Waldman, and Elad Yaniv won the Olympic Jumping Qualifier at Maxima Park in Moscow, qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, the first time that Israel has earned a place in the Olympics in equestrian. However, due to a technicality regarding the registration of his horse Gemma W, Bluman was deemed ineligible to compete just weeks prior to the start of the competition. The Israel Equestrian Federation decided that Ashlee Bond, Alberto Michán, Danielle G. Waldman, and Teddy Vlock would represent Israel at the games, with the identity of the three riders who would participate in each day's event to be determined the day before.
Jumping Danielle G. Waldman and Queensland E have been named the traveling alternates. AthleteHorseEventQualificationFinalPenaltiesRankPenaltiesTimeRankAshlee BondDonatelloIndividual0=1 Q588.0211Alberto MichánCosa NostraEliminatedDid not advanceTeddy VlockAmsterdam642Did not advanceAshlee BondAlberto MichánTeddy VlockSee aboveTeamEliminatedDid not advance
Gymnastics
Artistic Israel entered two artistic gymnasts into the Olympic competition. Three-time Olympian Alexander Shatilov booked a spot in the men's individual all-around and apparatus events, by finishing seventh out of the 12 gymnasts eligible for qualification at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, while Artem Dolgopyat secured one of the three places available for individual-based gymnasts, neither part of the team nor qualified through the all-around, in the floor exercise at the same tournament.
Lihie Raz received a spare berth from the women's apparatus event, as one of the female gymnasts from the individual all-around, not yet qualified, at the 2019 World Championships. Raz qualified for the floor final at the 2020 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships and thus met the Israeli criteria set by the Israeli Gymnastics Federation and ensured her participation in the Olympic Games.
Men