Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Israel is expected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games have been postponed to 23 July - 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Since the nation'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. It will be Israel's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.

Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics
IOC code	ISR
NOC	Olympic Committee of Israel
Website	www.olympicsil.co.il (in Hebrew)
in Tokyo, Japan
Competitors	54 in 9 sports
Medals	Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020

Four years before, a total of 47 Israeli athletes (22 men and 25 women) traveled to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and competed across 17 sports. It was Israel's largest-ever Olympic delegation, breaking its previous record of 43 athletes set in 2008.[2][3] That record is set to be broken in 2020, with 52 confirmed athletes as of December 2019. Among the sports in which its athletes will compete, Israel will mark its Olympic debuts in surfing (new in the 2020 Games), baseball (returning in the 2020 Games), and equestrian.

Competitors

The Israeli delegation so far includes 54 athletes, competing in 9 sports.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Athletics	3	2	5
Baseball	24	0	24
Cycling	0	1	1
Equestrian	TBD	TBD	3
Gymnastics	2	7	9
Sailing	1	3	4
Shooting	1	0	1
Surfing	0	1	1
Swimming	4	2	6
Total	35	16	54

Athletics

Main articles: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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):[4][5]

The Olympic Committee of Israel has not yet released the names of athletes to participate in the delegation.

Key

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Girmaw Amare	Men's marathon	N/A
Haimro Alame		N/A
Marhu Teferi		N/A
Selamawit Dagnachew	Women's 5000 m
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter	Women's 5000 m
	Women's 10000 m	N/A
	Women's marathon	N/A

Baseball

Main articles: Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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.[6]

Team roster

• Men's team event – 1 team of 24 players

Cycling

Main articles: Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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 her country.[7] 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.[8][9]

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
	Women's road race
	Women's time trial

Equestrian

Main articles: Equestrian at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Equestrian at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Israel fielded a squad of three equestrian riders in the Olympic team jumping competition for the first time by securing an outright berth as the top-ranked nation at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI)-designated Olympic qualifier for the first batch of Group C (Central and Eastern Europe) in Moscow.[10] In July 2019 Team Israel’s Daniel Bluman, Ashlee Bond, Danielle Goldstein 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.[11]

Jumping

Athlete	Horse	Event	Qualification		Final		Total
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Rank
		Individual
	See above	Team

Gymnastics

Main articles: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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.[12]

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. However, she does not yet meet the qualification requirement set by the Israeli Gymnastics Federation.

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification								Final
		Apparatus						Total	Rank	Apparatus						Total	Rank
		F	PH	R	V	PB	HB			F	PH	R	V	PB	HB
Artem Dolgopyat	All-around
Alexander Shatilov

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification						Final
		Apparatus				Total	Rank	Apparatus				Total	Rank
		V	UB	BB	F			V	UB	BB	F
	All-around

Rhythmic

Linoy Ashram and Nicol Zelikman secured 2 quotas for the Israeli delegation by finishing third and 11th, respectively, at the 2019 World Championships all-around individual event.[13] Also, Israel qualified a squad of rhythmic gymnasts for the group all-around by virtue of finishing within the top-five among National Olympic Committees that are not yet qualified at the 2019 World Championships. The Olympic Committee of Israel has not yet released the names of athletes to participate in the delegation.

Athlete	Event	Qualification						Final
		Hoop	Ball	Clubs	Ribbon	Total	Rank	Hoop	Ball	Clubs	Ribbon	Total	Rank
	Individual

Athletes	Event	Qualification				Final
		5 apps	3+2 apps	Total	Rank	5 apps.	3+2 apps	Total	Rank
	Group

Sailing

Main articles: Sailing at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Sailing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Israeli sailors qualified three boats in each of the following classes. Gil Cohen and Noa Lasry secured a quota for the Israeli delegation by finishing 11th in the women's 470 event at the 2018 Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.[14][15] Ofek Elimelech and Mia Morris finished twelfth and fourteenth in their respective RS:X classes. Both of these results promised two more quotas for the Israeli delegation. The Olympic Committee of Israel has not yet released all the names of athletes to participate in the delegation. Beijing 2008 bronze medalist Shahar Zubari and Katy Spychakov secured places on the Israeli squad, after they topped the overall ranking of the country's selection meets, marking Zubari's fourth consecutive trip to the Games and Spychakov's Olympic debut.

Athlete	Event	Race													Net points	Final rank
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	M*
Shahar Zubari	Men's RS:X
Katy Spychakov	Women's RS:X
	Women's 470											N/A

M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race

Shooting

Main articles: Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Israeli shooter Sergy Rikhter achieved quota places for the delegation in the men's 10 metre air rifle, by winning the gold medal at the 2019 European Games.[16][17] The Olympic Committee of Israel has not yet confirmed the identity of the athlete to compete in the event.

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
	Men's 10 m air rifle

Surfing

Main articles: Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Israel will send one surfer to compete in the women's shortboard at the Games. Anat Lelior secured a qualification slot for the nation as the highest-ranked surfer from Europe and one of the top 30 surfers in the overall open division at the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games in Miyazaki, Japan.[18] The quota is final as long as two other female athletes from Israel don't finish in qualifying positions at the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games in May 2021. In that case, the results from the 2021 World Surfing Games will prevail, and the quota from the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games will be reallocated to the next-best ranked from the respective continent.[19]

Athlete	Event	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Anat Lelior	Women's shortboard

Swimming

Main articles: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Qualification for Israeli swimmers in the individual swimming events in Tokyo is accomplished by achieving the qualifying standards in the events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and potentially 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):[20][21] All Israeli swimmers must qualify by achieving the qualification time set by the international federation FINA at one of the target competitions defined by the Israeli Swimming Association (ISA), or one percent faster at any other competition.

Israel can also enter a team for relay events with a top-12 finish at the 2019 FINA World Championships, provided that at least two swimmers in each relay event are qualified for any of the individual events.

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Meiron Cheruti	50 m freestyle
Tomer Frankel	100 m butterfly
Ron Polonsky	200 m individual medley
	4 × 200 m freestyle relay			N/A

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Anastasia Gorbenko	200 m individual medley

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
	4 × 100 m medley relay

Athletes not yet qualified to the 2020 Summer Olympics by the Israeli Swimming Association (ISA)

• Yakov Toumarkin (100 m backstroke) - Has achieved the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) defined by FINA at the Israeli championships 2019, but still needs to achieve the qualification recognized by the Israeli Swimming Association.

References

1. "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". Olympics. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
2. Allon Sinai (5 August 2016). "Israeli Olympic delegation preparing to wow in Rio". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
3. Allon Sinai (3 August 2016). "Sinai Says: With multiple medal contenders, Israeli Olympians primed for podium return". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
4. "Top Lists". IAAF. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
5. "IAAF Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Tokyo 2020 Entry Standards" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
6. Stuart, Winer (22 September 2019). "In first, Israel qualifies for Olympic games in baseball; National team routs South Africa 11-1, earning a place in Japan, where it will face five other squads at the Tokyo 2020 summer games". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
7. "Athletes' quotas for Road Cycling events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games". UCI. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
8. Turgis, Dominique (23 October 2019). "Classement UCI féminin: Un podium orange" [Women's UCI classification: An orange podium] (in French). Direct Velo. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
9. "Road racing cyclist Omer Shapira wins spot for Israel in Tokyo Olympics". Times of Israel. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
10. Parkes, Louise (1 July 2019). "History is made as Israel pips Poland in mighty battle for Tokyo 2020 ticket in Moscow". FEI. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
11. "Tokyo 2020 team and individual quota places confirmed by FEI". FEI. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
12. "Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2019: Day 4 - as it happened". Olympic Channel. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
13. "Places to Tokyo 2020, The World Games 2021 booked". FIG. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
14. "Eight nations book Tokyo 2020 spot in the Women's 470". World Sailing. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
15. Aharoni, Oren (8 August 2018). "2 first Israeli representatives to 2020 Tokyo Olympics in sailing". Ynet. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
16. Halickman, Joshua (26 June 2019). "Plenty of hardware for the Israelis in Minsk". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
17. "Quota Places by Nation and Number". www.issf-sports.org/. ISSF. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
18. "World's Top Women Approach Gold Medals, Capture Olympic Qualification in Miyazaki". International Surfing Association. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
19. "Tokyo 2020 Qualification System – Surfing" (PDF). isasurf.org. International Surfing Association. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
20. "Swimming World Rankings". FINA. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
21. "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 23 March 2019.