Israel at the Asian Games

The Asian Games are a regional sports competition sponsored by the Olympic Council of Asia, open to men and women athletes from Asian countries affiliated with the International Olympic Committee.[1] The first Games were held in New Delhi in 1951; from 1954, they were held every four years.[1] Political differences led to boycotts and exclusions at various editions of the Games.[1]

Israel was a founder-member of the Asian Games Federation in 1952.[2] Its sporting presence in the region had an even earlier precedent: a six-man Israeli team competed at the 1934 South West Asian Games in New Delhi, described as a forerunner of the modern Asian Games, where athlete Walter Frankl won three track medals.[2]

Israel first competed at the Asian Games in Manila in 1954, two years after its Olympic debut in Helsinki.[3] The delegation was small, but high jumper Ahuva Krazitsky-Kraus made an immediate mark as the sole track-and-field athlete: she set both Israeli and Asian records with a jump of 1.553 meters, and her victory prompted the Israeli anthem to be played at a continental Games for the first time.[3] Israel went on to compete at subsequent editions in Tokyo and Bangkok before being barred from the 1962 Jakarta Games.[2]

The 1962 Jakarta episode became a defining moment in Israel's relationship with Asian sport. Indonesia refused visas to the Israeli delegation, citing solidarity with Arab states and strategic considerations involving China; Taiwan was also barred.[4] The continental organizing committee had previously required Indonesia to promise to invite and welcome all member countries, but that commitment was not honored.[4] An Indian representative proposed a 48-hour postponement to seek a solution, but the proposal was rejected, and on opening day—24 August—Israeli athletes waited with their luggage for last-minute permission that never arrived.[4] Japan and two other countries threatened to boycott the Games unless Israel and Taiwan were admitted, but none ultimately withdrew.[4] The International Olympic Committee later expelled Indonesia from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in response.[4]

Israel returned to competition at the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games, where the team won 11 medals.[5] Among the standout performers was swimmer Gershon Shefa, who contributed three of those medals, though his specific events and medal types are not recorded in the cited source.[5] The men's basketball team, coached by Shimon Shelah, defeated host Thailand 90–42 in the final to claim gold.[6]

Israel's most successful Asian Games campaigns came in 1970 and 1974. At the 1970 Bangkok Games, a 27-athlete Israeli delegation won six gold, six silver, and five bronze medals, finishing sixth overall in the medal standings.[7] The basketball team again reached the final under coach Shimon Shelah but lost to South Korea 81–67, settling for silver.[6]

Israeli women's track-and-field athletes were among the most celebrated performers of both Games. Esther Roth-Shachamorov won gold in the 100-meter hurdles and pentathlon and silver in the long jump in 1970. At the 1974 Tehran Games, while recovering from a Caesarian delivery, she added gold medals in the 100-meter sprint, 200-meter dash, and 100-meter hurdles.[8] Hannah Shazipi won the 800- and 1,500-meter races in 1970, while Orit Abramovitz won the high jump in 1974.[3]

At the 1974 Tehran Asian Games, Israel sent 61 athletes and won seven gold, four silver, and eight bronze medals.[7] It again finished sixth in the final standings.[2] The basketball team, now coached by Avraham Hamo, defeated South Korea 92–85 in the final to reclaim gold.[6]

Israel also reached the football final. Former player Shiyeh Feigenboym recalled that about 120,000 spectators attended the match, which Iran won 1–0 after an own goal by Yitzhak Shum.[9] Blanga's study describes the final as politically charged and contrasts its intense public reception with the close relationship then maintained between Israel and Iran's monarchical government.[10]

Feigenboym recalled that Iranian Jewish residents had hosted and supported the Israeli squad during the tournament but told the players before the final that they could not attend after Jewish homes had been marked.[11] He also described soldiers surrounding the stadium, commandos guarding the hotel, police motorcycles escorting the team, and objects including slaughtered chickens being thrown at the Israelis.[11] At a gathering marking the final's 50th anniversary, defender Avraham Lev said that when the team emerged from the tunnel and saw Iranian soldiers pointing drawn weapons toward the crowd, "the fear began."[12] Shum maintained that the own goal was accidental.[9][12]

Blanga argues that Israeli decisionmakers failed to anticipate the depth of Iranian public hostility reflected in the match's reception and connects that failure to the collapse of Iranian-Israeli relations following the Islamic Revolution five years later.[10]

Israel was barred from the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, with "security reasons" cited as the stated pretext.[7] Accounts differ on precisely when its exclusion became formal. One Ynet history dates Israel's expulsion from the Asian association to 1976.[6] Another Ynet account says the exclusion had effectively taken hold before the 1978 Games, after all 25 other member countries decided Israel no longer had a place in the organization, while formal expulsion followed in 1982.[4] The Times of Israel reports that the Olympic Council of Asia banned Israel in 1981.[13] JNS states that the Asian Games Federation was reorganized as the Olympic Council of Asia in 1981, when Israel was excluded for political reasons, and that a permanent ban followed in 1982.[14] A contemporaneous 1982 Jerusalem Post report records that India had failed to invite Israel to the New Delhi Asian Games and that Israel demanded the IOC withdraw its patronage.[2]

After its exclusion, Israel was left without a continental affiliation and sought entry into European sports organizations.[7] After the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev stopped opposing Israel's admission to European-zone federations in 1989, the transition was complete for all practical purposes by 1992.[7] Israel's total across five Asian Games appearances stands at 53 medals: 18 gold, 16 silver, and 19 bronze.[6]

Several details of Israel's Asian Games history are contested across sources. Encyclopedia.com describes the 1962 Jakarta Games as having been canceled because Indonesia boycotted Israel, while Britannica reports that the Games were held in Jakarta and that Israel and Taiwan were excluded. The accounts therefore disagree about whether the Games took place.[7][15]

The timing of Israel's formal expulsion is also reported differently, with dates ranging from 1976 to 1982 depending on whether a source is describing expulsion from an association, effective exclusion from competition, reorganization under the Olympic Council of Asia, or a permanent ban.[6][13][14]

Sources also disagree about Roth-Shachamorov's 1970 events. Walla and the Jewish Virtual Library list gold medals in the hurdles and pentathlon, with the Jewish Virtual Library also recording silver in the long jump.[3][8] A Ynet interview quotes Roth-Shachamorov as saying that she instead won gold in the 100 meters and pentathlon, along with silver in the long jump.[16] The accounts consistently identify her three 1974 gold medals as coming in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and hurdles.[8][3]