Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics

The Olympic Committee of Israel entered the London Games with explicit targets: an Israeli woman would win a medal, Israel would win a medal in a sport in which it had never previously won one, and the delegation would return home with medals overall.[6] In January 2012, the director of Israel's Elite Sport Department, Gili Lostig, said at least around 25 athletes had already qualified, with approximately 10 more expected to join them.[6]

Israel's sports funding strategy, developed following a recommendation made after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, concentrated resources on a limited number of disciplines. Athletics, swimming, windsurfing, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, and taekwondo were designated as preferred sports, with Lostig noting that 80–90 percent of Israel's medals in target events during the preceding two years had come from those fields.[6] He summarized the philosophy as: "In competitive sport you need to give a lot to the few to succeed." Israel failed to qualify a taekwondo athlete for London at all, which Lostig called "a massive disappointment."[6]

Israel sent 37 athletes to London, marking the country's 15th participation in the Summer Olympics.[1][7] Not all delegation members took part in the opening-ceremony march.[7] Windsurfer Shahar Zubari — a bronze medalist from the Beijing 2008 Games — carried Israel's flag at the opening ceremony.[7] At the closing ceremony, rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin carried the flag as the remaining athletes entered the stadium.[8]

The men's roster included sprinter Donald Sanford (400 meters), Zohar Zemiro (marathon), badminton player Misha Zilberman, gymnasts Felix Aronovich and Alexander Shatilov, judokas Artium Arshanski (60 kg), Golan Pollack (66 kg), Ioseb Palelshvili (73 kg), and Ariel Ze'evi (100 kg), sailors Shahar Zubari and the 470 pair of Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela, shooter Sergy Rikhter, swimmers Imri Ganiel, Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, Gal Nevo, and Yakov-Yan Toumarkin, and tennis doubles partners Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.[1]

The women's roster featured pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz; artistic gymnast Valeria Maksyuta; rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin and six athletes listed for the rhythmic group — Moran Buzovsky, Victoria Koshel, Noa Palathcy, Marina Shultz, Paulina Zakaluzny, and Eliora Zholkovski; judoka Alice Shlesinger (63 kg); sailors Lee Korzits, the 470 pair of Gil Cohen and Vered Buskila, and Nufar Edelman; swimmer Amit Ivry; synchronized swimmers Anastasia Gloushkov and Inna Yoffe; and tennis player Shahar Pe'er.[1]

Several Israeli competitors produced performances that, while falling short of medals, set national records or reached historic heights in their disciplines.

Yakov Toumarkin finished seventh in the men's 200-meter backstroke final with a time of 1:57.62, then the best Olympic result recorded by an Israeli swimmer.[9][10] He had qualified as the eighth-fastest swimmer and became only the second Israeli to reach an Olympic final in an individual swimming event, after Eitan Urbach's eighth place in the 100-meter backstroke at Sydney 2000.[10][11] Toumarkin said he was pleased with seventh but disappointed not to have broken his Israeli record in the final.[9] Gal Nevo advanced to the semifinals of the 200-meter individual medley.[11]

Swimmer Amit Ivry reached the semifinal of the 200-meter individual medley and improved her Israeli record.[10] Shooter Sergey Richter scored 595 out of a possible 600 in the 10-meter air rifle, finishing ninth and missing the eight-man final by a single point.[10]

Gymnast Alex Shatilov finished 12th in the men's all-around and sixth in the floor exercise.[10][11] His floor result was described as the best Olympic result by an Israeli gymnast in the history of the event. Shatilov attributed a slightly oversized step on a landing as "an unnecessary and critical mistake," while conceding, "The judges gave the right score."[12]

In rhythmic gymnastics, sources differ on whether Neta Rivkin finished sixth or seventh in the individual all-around final, but both accounts characterized her result as a historic high for Israel in the discipline.[8][13] Israel's rhythmic gymnastics group also reached the final, finishing eighth overall.[12]

Windsurfer Lee Korzits, then the reigning world champion, was placed second heading into the final medal race but finished ninth in that race to end the regatta sixth overall.[2] Shahar Zubari, the 2008 Beijing bronze medalist who had carried Israel's flag at the opening ceremony, finished 19th.[10]

In tennis, Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich defeated the Swiss pair of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka after dropping the first set, then reached the men's doubles quarterfinals, where they faced the top-seeded American Bryan brothers, the eventual gold medalists.[9][10] The Israelis lost 7–6 (4), 7–6 (10) after failing to convert set points; Erlich double-faulted on the Americans' third match point.[9]

Judoka Arik Ze'evi — a four-time European champion and 2004 Athens bronze medalist — was eliminated in his opening bout by Germany's Dimitri Peters after 43 seconds.[14][13] At 35, London was widely expected to be his final major international competition, though he did not announce his retirement; he said, "I made a mistake and paid the price."[14]

Israel returned from London without a single Olympic medal.[1][10] David Blatt, an Israeli who coached Russia's basketball team, won a bronze medal when Russia defeated Argentina 81–77, though the medal was not won while representing Israel.[13]

The absence of medals immediately prompted a public debate about how to assess the team's performance. Sports Minister Limor Livnat called the campaign a failure and announced she would establish an expert committee to examine it — a statement that drew sharp criticism from athletes who pointed out that it came while some competitors were still in action.[12] Swimmer Gal Nevo called the minister's comments "offensive and inconsiderate."[12] Livnat subsequently expressed esteem for the athletes' effort and acknowledged that some had achieved impressive results.[12]

After the Games concluded, Livnat announced the formal creation of an expert panel to investigate the team's preparations and recommend steps ahead of Rio 2016.[15] She said more government funding had been invested in the team than ever before and that it was important to examine professional shortcomings alongside the athletes' accomplishments.[15] The panel was to include both Israeli and international experts, and a Knesset committee also planned to hold discussions on the results.[15]

Retrospective assessments generally described London as a major disappointment because Israel won no medals, while also emphasizing several record or near-record performances: Toumarkin's seventh-place final, Ram and Erlich's quarterfinal run, Rivkin's historic final, and the rhythmic team's first final appearance.[10][13] The differing accounts of Rivkin's exact placement — sixth in one retrospective and seventh in another — illustrate small discrepancies in later summaries, but both treated the result as historically significant.[8][13]

The 2012 London Games coincided with the 40th anniversary of the murder of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Families of the victims, supported by a broad public campaign, asked the IOC to dedicate a minute of the London opening ceremony to their memory. The "Just One Minute" campaign spread through YouTube videos, a Twitter hashtag, a Facebook page, and an online petition; more than 100,000 people signed petitions, while U.S. President Barack Obama and sportscaster Bob Costas publicly supported an observance.[3][5]

IOC president Jacques Rogge declined the request, stating that the IOC did not foresee a commemoration during the opening ceremony.[4] IOC spokesman Andrew Mitchell said an alternative ceremony would be held during the Games and that Rogge would participate; he added that the decision had been made in consultation with the Israeli National Olympic Committee.[4] IOC member Alex Gilady also opposed the proposed silence, arguing it might harm the unity of the Olympic movement; some activists blamed him for the outcome, though Gilady disputed accounts of his role.[16]

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon criticized the IOC's refusal, saying: "This approach told us as Israelis that this tragedy is yours alone and not within the family of nations."[4] The Israeli government had formally asked the IOC to include the observance.[4] During the opening-ceremony march, members of the Israeli delegation wore black ribbons on their lapels in memory of the eleven athletes killed in Munich, and Sports Minister Livnat stood for a minute of silence during Rogge's speech as a personal act of protest at the absence of an official memorial.[7]

The IOC's decision not to hold an opening-ceremony observance did not preclude all remembrance during the Games. Rogge held a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Village; approximately 100 people attended with no advance notice, and Rogge called it "absolutely normal" that he should call for their remembrance.[3] The campaign also reflected a longer pattern: the IOC had repeatedly refused earlier requests from the victims' families and had previously offered what one account described as a "rather low-key acknowledgment" by inviting children of the slain Olympians to the 1996 Atlanta Games.[5]

American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman provided another form of remembrance. After Olympic officials declined an opening-ceremony tribute, she performed her gold-medal-winning floor exercise to "Hava Nagilah" during the 40th-anniversary year and said the timing made the victory especially meaningful.[17]

In September 2012, a commemoration was held at Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich — the site where most of the Israeli victims had died during the failed German rescue attempt.[18] Jewish leaders and family members again criticized the IOC's handling of remembrance at London. Rogge could not attend because of hip surgery. Speakers differed sharply in their judgments: Dieter Graumann condemned the absence of official remembrance, while Munich mayor Christian Ude defended the decision to resume the 1972 Games after the attack.[18]