Israel Eyes Olympic Success with 88 Athletes in Paris Games
Israel will begin its quest at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this week as the blue-and-white delegation looks to emulate the wonderful results achieved at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, which took place in 2021 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
At the previous Games in Japan, Israel took home four medals: two golds and two bronzes. Linoy Ashram in Rhythmic Individual All-Around Gymnastics and Artem Dolgopyat in the Men’s Floor Routine Gymnastics finished in first place in their respective disciplines. Avishag Semberg took third place in Taekwondo -49kg, and the Judo Mixed Team also grabbed a bronze for their efforts.
In this edition of the Games, there will be 88 Israeli athletes competing in 16 different sports, with 54 men and 34 women. However, 18 of the men are from the soccer team. In comparison, at the last Olympics, 90 blue-and-white athletes were participating in 16 sports, with 24 of the 55 men coming from the baseball team.
Artem Dolgopyat will once again compete for gold in the All-Around and remains Israel’s best chance for another first-place finish among all disciplines. At the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, he won the gold medal in the floor exercise.
Dolgopyat had woken up the morning of the event to the news that Israel had been attacked by Hamas from Gaza and decided not to withdraw from the final despite the mental anguish he was experiencing. “It was very difficult for me to disconnect. When I got to the arena, I told myself that I have to be in the competition and that’s it.” He put black ribbons on the Israeli flag and on his left arm to mourn the Israeli victims. (JPost / VFI News)
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law My servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:7