Israel at the European Games

The European Games were inaugurated in Baku, Azerbaijan, in June 2015, gathering roughly 6,000 athletes from 50 European nations.[1] Israel's inclusion was geopolitically notable: the country had not participated in a continental multi-sport competition since the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran, a gap of more than four decades.[2] The Azerbaijani government fully financed the inaugural edition, while the country's energy sector accounted for approximately 95 percent of its exports.[1]

Israel sent more than 140 athletes to Baku, its largest-ever delegation to a sporting event at that time.[3] The squad won 12 medals in total — two gold, four silver, and six bronze — while another 12 Israeli athletes reached finals.[3]

Judoka Sagi Muki became Israel's first European Games gold medalist by winning the men's under-73-kilogram competition. In the final, he defeated Georgian Nugzari Tatalashvili with an ippon 44 seconds before the bout ended; the event also served as that year's European Judo Championships.[4] The delegation's second gold came from 18-year-old swimmer Ziv Kalontarov, who won the 50-meter freestyle in 22.16 seconds, set an Israeli senior record, and met the Olympic qualifying standard for Rio 2016.[5] The swimming program doubled as the European Junior Swimming Championships and was contested by junior athletes.[5]

Or Sasson won silver in the men's over-100-kilogram judo division.[6] Yarden Gerbi took bronze in the women's under-63-kilogram event, defeating Portugal's Ana Cachola after losing her semifinal to Slovenia's Tina Trstenjak.[4] Ilana Kartysh won silver in women's 69-kilogram freestyle wrestling.[6]

The rhythmic gymnastics group earned three medals: silver in the all-around, silver in clubs and hoops, and bronze in ribbon.[6] The five-member team comprised Yuval Filo, Alona Koshevatskiy, Ekaterina Levina, Karina Lykhvar, and Ida Mayrin.[7] Neta Rivkin added bronze in the individual hoop.[8] Shooter Sergey Richter won bronze in the men's 10-meter air rifle event.[9] Israel's athletics team also claimed bronze in the team competition.[10]

Medal-winning athletes and coaches received combined bonuses totaling NIS 320,875 — NIS 222,500 distributed to athletes and NIS 98,375 to coaches. Bonuses in judo and wrestling were set at a higher rate because those competitions also counted as European Championships.[6] Olympic Committee of Israel Secretary-General Gili Lustig reflected afterward: "Our greatest success was that we showed we have depth."[3]

The Times of Israel reported that Israel sent 39 athletes to the second European Games, held in Minsk, Belarus, in June 2019. They competed across 10 sports: cycling, boxing, badminton, judo, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, gymnastics, shooting, and archery.[11] The Israeli Olympic Committee used the Games as an Olympic qualifier in several disciplines and projected a medal haul of five to seven.[11]

The delegation ultimately won seven medals, matching the upper end of that projection. A post-Games ONE report instead described the professional advance estimate as three to four medals.[12] Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram led the medal count with four: gold in the ball and clubs events, silver in ribbon, and silver in the individual all-around. Shooter Sergey Richter, who had won bronze at Baku, upgraded to gold in Minsk and secured an Olympic quota place for Tokyo 2020. Judoka Lee Kochman won silver, and badminton player Misha Zilberman added bronze.[12]

Delegation head Dani Oren assessed the performance: "It was a quality delegation that met the professional expectations, and even exceeded them." He noted that results across ten sports contributed to Olympic scoring for Tokyo 2020, with direct quota places available in some of them.[12]

The third European Games were held in Kraków, Poland, from June 20 to July 2, 2023, featuring 29 sports.[13] Israel entered 124 athletes competing across 17 of those sports, with Luna Chemtai-Salpeter and basketball player Joaquin Shukman serving as the delegation's flag-bearers at the opening ceremony.[13]

Israel's artistic swimmers won gold in the Team Free Routine Combination, with Germany taking silver and Turkey bronze.[14] The victory resonated beyond the podium: the Games were held roughly 60 kilometers from Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Israeli Olympic Association chair Yael Arad described the anthem ceremony as carrying exceptional weight. "There is nothing more symbolic than standing with your head held high and singing Hatikvah just 10 minutes from Auschwitz," she said.[14]

On June 28, triathlete Shahar Sagiv won silver with a time of 1:46:51, which was reported as the biggest achievement of his career to that point and Israel's fourth medal at those Games.[15] Fellow triathlete Itamar Lebanon finished 49th among 52 finishers, completing the course in 1:54:48, while Itamar Eshad did not finish.[15] Israel's women's épée fencing team — Gili Koritzky, Lior Druck, and Lihi Koren — placed 11th in the team event after defeats to Germany and Great Britain and a victory over Romania.[15]

Israel's European Games performances also contributed to Olympic qualification. In Baku, Kalontarov met the Rio swimming standard and Richter secured a shooting quota place.[5][9] Richter earned another quota place with his gold medal in Minsk, where results across ten sports contributed to Tokyo 2020 qualification scoring.[12] The 2023 artistic-swimming victory also carried symbolic significance through Yael Arad's remarks connecting the playing of "Hatikvah" with the Games' proximity to Auschwitz-Birkenau.[14]

Contemporary sources differ on two details from Baku. Globes and later Ynet coverage reported rhythmic-gymnastics silver medals in the all-around and clubs-and-hoops events, plus bronze in ribbon, while the body of one Walla report described bronze in the all-around and two apparatus silvers.[6][16] Walla reports also variously placed Israel 21st and 22nd in the final medal standings, so this article does not assign a single rank.[8][10]

Reports also differed on the 2019 advance medal forecast: a pre-Games account gave a range of five to seven, while ONE's post-Games assessment cited three to four.[11][12] Finally, the description of Shahar Sagiv's silver as Israel's fourth medal in 2023 reflects the tally on June 28, while the Games were still underway, rather than a final medal count.[15]