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 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.
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]
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]
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