By, Simon Griver
1 min read
BySimon Griver, Simon Griver
Israeli officials have confirmed that the delegation will send its largest-ever squad to an Olympic Games this summer.
The group competing in Rio will surpass the 37 athletes who represented Israel across eight sports at the London 2012 games, as well as the 43 representatives in 11 sports that competed in Beijing four years earlier.
With the final cut-off approaching, the Olympic Committee of Israel announced that seven judo players will participate in Brazil. Meor Teori also became the fifth Israeli marathon runner to achieve qualification for Brazil.
This brings the number of guaranteed Israeli competitors to 43 in a record 13 sports. And there could be more to follow.
Women’s golfer Laetitia Beck looks certain to qualify, while tennis player Dudi Sela is also expected to be in Rio.
Gili Lustig, the OCI secretary, said: “I expect there to be a squad of 45. Most of the competitors are in the traditionally preferred sports like judo and sailing, but we have some interesting new sports represented such as mountain biking and triathlon.”