Israel competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. This was the nation's 18th appearance at the Summer Olympics. 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 in accordance with the US-led boycott. It was Israel's most successful Olympic Games by number of medals.
The participation of Israel in 2024 prompted calls from twenty-six French lawmakers, Palestinian, and other global sports organizations for sanctions against Israel and to prevent its participation due to the impact of the Gaza war on Palestinian athletes and sports facilities, but IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed this was never an issue for the IOC and cautioned athletes against boycotts and discrimination. Bach also said, âÂÂSince the heinous attack on the Israeli team, there were always special measures being taken with Israeli athletes.â The president of the Olympic Committee of Israel, Yael Arad, assured that Israeli athletes would "100 per cent" be present, with safety measures in place.
The judoka Peter Paltchik and swimmer Andrea Murez were chosen as the nation's flag bearers at the opening ceremony. Israel finished the games with seven medals, including one gold.
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The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games. Note that reserve athletes are not counted:
Israel qualified two archers (one per gender) in the individual recurve and mixed team events, through the final release of the Olympic ranking for Paris 2024.
Israel qualified two athletes to compete in the women's duet as a result of high rank at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Israeli track and field athletes achieved the entry standards for Paris 2024, either by passing the direct qualifying mark (or time for track and road races) or by world ranking, in the following events (a maximum of 3 athletes each):
Israel entered one badminton player into the Olympic tournament based on the BWF Race to Paris Rankings.
Israel qualified one male cyclist by finishing 39th in the UCI Nation Ranking, and one women cyclist by finishing 44th in the UCI Nation Ranking.
Israel qualified two riders for the men's sprint and keirin events following the release of the final UCI Olympic rankings, but chose to send only one rider to compete.
Israel qualified one man mountain biker based on the UCI Mountain biking Olympic Qualification Ranking due to reallocations of unused quota places.
Israel fielded a squad of three equestrian riders into the team jumping competitions by winning at the International Equestrian Federation designated Olympic jumping qualifier for Group C (Central and Eastern Europe) in Prague, Czech Republic. Isabella Russekoff on C Vier 2 was reserve for the team competition. She participated in the individual competition.
For the first time since 2008, Israel entered one fencer into the Olympic competition. Yuval Freilich secured his quota place in men's épée, as one of the two highest-ranked individual fencers in the European zone in the FIE Official ranking for Paris 2024.
Israel men's football team qualified for the Olympics by advancing to the semifinals of the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Georgia and Romania, marking the nation's return to the sport for the first time since Montreal 1976.
Israel qualified two gymnasts, Artem Dolgopyat and Lihie Raz, by their being among the highest-ranked eligible athletes in the All-around at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
Israel entered a squad of rhythmic gymnasts to compete in the group all-around competition, following the nation's successful runner-up at the 2022 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Additionally, Israel also entered an individual gymnast through the individual all-round qualifications at the 2023 World Championships in Valencia, Spain.
Judoka listed are those who secured qualification.
Nations qualifying at least one athlete in the âÂÂ57 (âÂÂ48, âÂÂ52 & âÂÂ57), âÂÂ70 (âÂÂ57, âÂÂ63 & âÂÂ70) & +70 (âÂÂ70, âÂÂ78 & +78) weight categories for women, and at least one athlete in the âÂÂ73 (âÂÂ60, âÂÂ66 & âÂÂ73), âÂÂ90 (âÂÂ73, âÂÂ81 & âÂÂ90) & +90 (âÂÂ90, âÂÂ100 & +100) weight categories for men, would compete in the team event.
Israeli sailors qualified one boat in Men's and Women's iQFoil, Women's Formula Kite, and Mixed 470 through the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands; They also qualified one boat in Men's Laser through the 2024 ILCA Senior European Championships in Athens, Greece. Additionally, Israeli sailors qualified one boat in Women's Laser Radial through the 2024 ILCA Senior European Championships after Portugal's quota from the 2023 Sailing World Championships was disqualified because Vasileia Karachaliou did not receive Portuguese citizenship and was not approved to representing Portugal.
<small>M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated â did not advance into the medal race</small>
Israeli shooter Sergey Richter achieved quota places for the delegation in the men's 10 metre air rifle through the ISSF World Olympic Rankings after universality spots were reallocated. This will be his fourth appearance at the Olympics.
Israel surfers confirmed one shortboard quota place. Anat Lelior qualified for the games, by virtue of being one of the top eight individual women's surfers, not yet qualified, at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Israeli swimmers achieved the entry standards in the following events for Paris 2024 (a maximum of two swimmers under the Olympic Qualifying Time (OST) and potentially at the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT)):
Israel qualified one athlete. Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Avishag Semberg qualified for Paris 2024 at the 2024 European Qualification Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Israel qualified one male triathlete based on the World Triathlon Individual Olympic Qualification Ranking. Shachar Sagiv, who was the triathlete who qualified in the ranking, was selected to represent Israel in the 2024 Olympics.
Palestinian sports organizations and sports organizations from Arab countries are calling for sanctions to be imposed against Israel and to prevent its participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics due to the Gaza war. The calls from the Palestinian and Arab organizations have been prompted by concerns about the war's impact on Palestinian athletes and sports facilities.
In February, twenty-six French lawmakers sent a letter to the IOC, urging sanctions against Israel, and calling for a ban on Israeli athletes competing under their flag and anthem. The lawmakers cited Israel's alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip as the reason for their stance. They proposed that Israeli athletes participate neutrally, similar to Russian and Belarusian athletes, during the Games. The American-based global organization Avaaz started an online appeal calling on IOC to ban Israel from the Games until it "ceases its assault on innocent civilians in Gaza."
Thomas Portes, a lawmaker from La France Insoumise party, was captured on video saying that Israel's Olympic athletes "were not welcome in France" and called for protests against their participation in the Olympic games. On 23 July 2024, protests were held in Paris by pro-Palestinian demonstrators urging the IOC to have Israel excluded from the Games.
The IOC has cautioned athletes against boycotting or discriminating against others, stating that immediate action will follow any discriminatory behavior such as the case of Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who received a ten year ban following his refusal to fight Tohar Butbul, an Israeli, in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The IOC also stated that athletes are not to be held accountable for their government's actions. However, Algerian judoka Messaoud Dris, who was previously reported to consider withdrawing, was disqualified ahead of a match against Butbul in the âÂÂ73 kg event, after his weight was measured to be 0.4 kg above the limit. Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestine Olympic Committee, said he would refuse to engage with his Israeli counterpart Yael Arad, commenting: "The Palestinian athletes and I will follow the principles of the IOC. And if we feel that there is any violation from our side, we have to fight against it. The ball is in the other side's court." He further referenced Israeli judoka and flagbearer Peter Paltchik, accused of posting on his social media images of Israeli missiles captioned "From me to you with pleasure".
In November 2023, Russia accused the IOC of having double standards by not sanctioning Israel due to its military actions in Gaza, as Palestine is also an IOC member. The IOC's response to the comparisons to Russia was that the recommendations adopted on Russia and Belarus resulted from the violation of the Olympic Truce that was in force at the time, Russia's violation of the Olympic Charter following their annexation of four Ukrainian Olympic councils, and Russia's two previous violations in 2008 and 2014. American academic and former professional soccer player Jules Boykoff described the double standards as "glaring" and questioned the IOC's treatment of Israel compared to Russia, stating that Israel's various settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are in violation of the Olympic Charter the same way the Russian invasion of Ukraine is. However, French president Emmanuel Macron defended the decision to include Israel, stating that "Israel responded to a terrorist attack" by Hamas, and that "this is not a war of aggression".
During the national anthem, Israel's team faced heckling in stadiums, and athletes were escorted to events by a strong police presence, including riot police vans. In the football game against Mali, Palestinian flags were displayed by a few spectators, with some parts of the crowd booing the Israelis and sporadic chants of "free Palestine" that drew attention from security, while outside the venue came choruses of "free the hostages".