The ancient Olympic Games were held over a period of 1500 years. The Games were reestablished in the late 19th century by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and the first modern Olympics took place in Athens in 1896.

Since then, the Olympic Games have been held regularly every four years, except during WWI and WWII.

The Summer Olympics constitute the largest event of any kind in the world.

The 31st modern Olympiad will commence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 5, 2016. This marks the first time that the Olympics have been hosted in South America.

Israel participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in Helsinki 1952. The infamous 1972 Munich games will eternally be mourned for the 11 members of the Israeli delegation who were murdered there – athletes, trainers and referees. Israel won its first Olympic medal in Barcelona in 1992 and its first gold medal in Athens 2004.

Israel’s Olympic medalists are:

Yael Arad – silver, Barcelona 1992; Oren Smadja – bronze, Barcelona 1992; Gal Friedman – bronze, Atlanta 1996; Michael Kolganov – bronze, Sydney 2000; Gal Friedman – gold, Athens 2004; Arik Ze’evi – bronze, Athens 2004; Shahar Zubari – bronze, Beijing 2008.

Track and Field – Triple Jump
Track and Field – the queen of sports – is the most popular Olympic sport. Israeli athletes began participating in Olympic track and field in 1952.

Track and field includes 47 Olympic events – running, jumping and throwing. The triple jump begins with a run up start and is then comprised of the hop, the step and the jump.

In the triple jump event conducted at the first modern Olympics in 1896 all three stages started with the same leg. The current style was first instated in the Paris games of 1900.

The women’s triple jump was recognized as a world record event in 1990 and it became an Olympic event for the first time in Atlanta 1996.

The men’s world record – 18.29 meters – is held by Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain. The women’s world record – 15.50 meters – is held by Inessa Kravets of Ukraine. The Israeli men’s record holder is Nahum Rogel (17.20 meters) and the Israeli women’s record holder is Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko (14.78 meters).

Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko is the Beijing 2015 World Championship silver-medalist and she will represent Israel in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

—Rafi Peled
Chairman, Israel Athletic Association

Judo
The Japanese martial art of Judo became an Olympic sport at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Judo is now one of the most popular sports in Israel and throughout the world.

The Israel Judo Championships have been conducted regularly since 1969 for men and since 1976 for women.

Judo is one of the sports in which Israel has earned the most Olympic medals: Israel’s first two Olympic medals were awarded to Yael Arad and Oren Smadja in Barcelona 1992, and Arik Ze’evi won an Olympic medal in Athens 2004.

Over the years, and especially in recent years, Israeli judokas have won numerous medals around the world, among them Yarden Gerbi’s noteworthy 2013 World Championship gold medal, a first in the history of Israeli judo.

—Sagi Gur
CEO, Israel Judo Association

Sailing – RS:X Windsurfing
Sailing is one of Israel’s most prominent sports. The most prominent achievement in this field is the Olympic gold medal for windsurfing.

The RS:X windsurfer replaced the Mistral model in 2005.

The RS:X was first used at the 2006 Israeli Championships and marked the transition to the younger generation of windsurfers: Gal Friedman, Olympic gold medalist from the Athens 2004

games (Mistral model) came in fourth, while Shahar Zubari won the competition. In the women’s competition, Maayan Davidovich beat former World Champion Lee Korzits. Israel was represented at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by Zubari and Davidovich, both of whom qualified for the medal sailings and Zubari even won a bronze medal.

Lee Korzits won four consecutive world championship titles and was ranked sixth in the London 2012 games. She is Israelís most decorated athlete.

Israel will be represented at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by Israeli windsurfers Maayan Davidovich and Shahar Zubari.

—Smadar Pintov
CEO, Israel Sailing Association

Description of the Stamps
Track and Field – Triple Jump
Stamp design based on a photograph by Ariel Chissick.

Sailing – RS:X Windsurfing
Stamp design based on a photograph by Amit Schussel.

Judo
Stamp design based on a photograph provided courtesy of the Olympic Committee of Israel.

Official expression ìRio 2016î on the stamp: © 2016 International Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Committee of Israel logo on stamp and cancellation: © The Olympic Committee of Israel. Issue: June 2016

Technical Details:
Issue: June 21, 2016
Stamps Size (mm): H 40 W 30
Plates: 1020, 1021, 1022
Stamps per Sheet: 10
Tabs per Sheet: 5
Method of printing: Offset
Security mark: Microtext
Printer: Cartor Security Printing, France