Israel at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Israel first participated in the Summer Olympics at Helsinki in 1952 and subsequently appeared at every Summer Games except Moscow 1980, making Mexico City part of a largely unbroken run of Olympic participation.[2] The 1968 Games were held at an elevation of approximately 2,300 meters (7,500 feet), where the thin air benefited sprinters and field athletes but disadvantaged many distance runners.[1] The Games were also politically charged, taking place shortly after the Tlatelolco massacre and featuring the Black-power salute delivered by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the men's 200-meter medal ceremony.[1]

The under-23 restriction used in modern Olympic men's football was not introduced until 1992, so the 1968 tournament had no such age cap.[4] Israel did not win an Olympic medal in Mexico City; its first Summer Olympic medal came in 1992, when Yael Arad won silver in judo.[2]

Israel's men's football team was the centerpiece of the country's 1968 Olympic campaign. It advanced to the quarter-finals under captain and star Mordechai “Mottele” Spiegler.[5] Spiegler and fellow squad member Giora Spiegel later belonged to Israel's only team to participate in a FIFA World Cup, competing in the 1970 tournament.[6]

In the quarter-final, Israel faced Bulgaria in a match that remained 1–1 after extra time. Under the rules then in force, the outcome was settled by drawing lots rather than by further play.[3] Spiegler drew a slip from a large sombrero marked “no,” while the Bulgarian captain drew “yes”; Bulgaria advanced to the semi-finals and Israel was eliminated.[3] Morocco had earlier decided not to play Israel at the 1968 Olympics, a decision later cited in explaining why Morocco and Israel were placed in separate groups at the 1970 World Cup.[7]

Beyond football, race walker Shaul Ladany and hurdler Ester Roth-Shachamorov were among Israel's competitors in Mexico City. Ladany, competing in his first Olympic Games at age 32, had discovered his endurance during four-day marches connected with Israel Defense Forces training before taking up race walking competitively.[8] The Israeli press nicknamed him the “King of the Marches,” and he later won 28 Israeli national titles between 1963 and 1988.[9] Ladany set a United States 100-mile walking record of 21:45:34 in 2006, at age 70, and held the 50-mile race-walk world record of 7:23:50.[8][9] He returned to Olympic competition at the 1972 Munich Games.[8]

Roth-Shachamorov qualified for the 1968 Olympics in the 80-meter hurdles. She had begun training with coach Amitzur Shapira in 1966, when she was 14 years old.[10] On the morning of her Olympic race, Shapira arrived late to collect her; without sufficient time to warm up, she pulled a leg muscle during the event and was unable to compete for the remainder of that year.[10] Roth-Shachamorov later became the first Israeli athlete to reach an Olympic final, finishing sixth in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1976 Montreal Games.[10]

Israel's elimination through the drawing of lots had consequences beyond the 1968 tournament. Israeli football official and former sports journalist Yosef “Joseph” Dagan, who later served as general secretary of the Israel Football Association, campaigned for a fairer method of resolving drawn knockout matches.[3] Working with Micha Almog, then chairman of the association's technical committee, Dagan proposed five kicks per team followed by sudden death—the system that became the penalty shoot-out.[3]

In a 1969 letter to FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous, Dagan and Almog described drawing lots as “an immoral and even cruel system for the losing team and not honorable for the winner.”[3] They submitted their proposal to FIFA, and the International Football Association Board adopted the system in 1970 after international debate.[3] The penalty shoot-out was first used at a FIFA World Cup in the 1982 semi-final between West Germany and France.[3] German referee Karl Wald independently advocated a similar system at around the same time, although UEFA credited Dagan with presenting the proposal before football's governing bodies.[3]

Several details surrounding Israel's 1968 Olympic participation are described differently in the available accounts. Ynetnews states that the football quarter-final was level at the end of 90 minutes, while JNS specifies that the score remained 1–1 after extra time before the drawing of lots.[4][3] Regarding Israel's overall finish, Encyclopedia.com describes the result both as a fifth-place finish and as reaching the quarter-final round; these formulations may reflect different ways of ranking teams eliminated at the same stage.[5]

The origins of the penalty shoot-out are also disputed. UEFA credited Yosef Dagan with presenting the proposal to football's governing bodies, while German referee Karl Wald independently advocated a similar system at around the same time.[3] The available account therefore supports describing Dagan as a major catalyst for the system rather than as its uncontested sole inventor.