| Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | ISR |
| NOC | Olympic Committee of Israel |
| Website | www |
| in Rio de Janeiro | |
| Competitors | 47 in 17 sports |
| Flag bearers | Neta Rivkin (opening) Alona Koshevatskiy (closing) |
| Medals Ranked 77th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 women, to compete across 17 sports at the Games. Breaking its previous record of 43 athletes set in 2008, it was the nation's largest ever delegation sent to the Olympics, until the record was again broken by the 90 athletes delegation to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Among the sports represented by its athletes, Israel marked its Olympic debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games), mountain biking, and triathlon, as well as its return to road cycling, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling after long years of absence. The nation's full roster also reached a historic milestone for Israeli women, as they officially outnumbered the men for the first time.
The Israeli delegation featured 14 returning Olympians. Five of them participated in their third straight Games, namely windsurfer and 2008 bronze medalist Shahar Tzuberi, butterfly and medley swimmer Gal Nevo, synchronized swimmer Anastasia Gloushkov, artistic gymnast Alexander Shatilov, and rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin, who was chosen as the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, the first by a female since 1996 and fourth overall in Israel's Olympic history.
Israel returned home from Rio de Janeiro with two bronze medals, each won by judoka Yarden Gerbi (women's 63 kg) and Or Sasson (men's +100 kg), an improvement from the nation's out-of-medal feat at London 2012. Several Israeli athletes advanced to the finals of their respective sporting events, but narrowly missed out of the podium, including the women's rhythmic gymnastics squad (captained by Alona Koshevatskiy) in the group all-around, triple jumper Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko, and windsurfer Maayan Davidovich in the women's RS:X.