# Israel at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Israel competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 28 competitors, 26 men and 2 women, took part in 19 events in 10 sports.

## Summary

Israel sent to the Olympics a football team, that qualified for the second time, and 11 individual athletes, the same number as the victims in Munich massacre four years earlier. All seven sports represented at the 1972 Olympics were retained for 1976: Athletics, swimming, shooting, fencing, wrestling, weight lifting and sailing. In addition to football, gymnastics also appeared for the second time, after a break of 16 years, and judo made its debut on the Israeli Olympic team.
This was by far the most successful Olympic Games for Israel until then. Esther Roth-Shahamorov, the only team member who was also in Munich, became the first Israeli athlete in any sport who reached an Olympic final, and finished sixth in women's 100m hurdles. Her place is still the best achievement by an Israeli track athlete. In weightlifting, Eduard Weitz came in fifth place, the best achievement of an Israeli at the Olympics in any sport until then, which still remains the best achievement in weightlifting in Israel's Olympic history. Another fine achievement was seventh place (unofficially) for Rami Miron in wrestling. Those three results were better than any previous result of Israeli athlete at the Olympics.
The football team, despite drawing its three preliminary round matches, still advanced to the quarterfinals, where it was eliminated by Brazil. It was a repeat of Israel's achievement in 1968.

## Athletics

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| Women's 100 metres hurdles | Esther Roth-Shahamorov | | |

## Fencing

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| Women's foil | Nili Drori | | |

## Football

During the 1976 Summer Olympics, Israel competed in football along with Iran and North Korea in the AFC. Additionally, Israeli referee Abraham Klein worked the tournament. Israel lost to Brazil in the quarter-finals and was eliminated.

### Preliminary round - Group B
#### Standings

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 5 |
| Israel | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Mexico | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 2 |
| Guatemala | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 2 |

#### Matches
### Quarterfinals
#### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| July 25 - Ottawa | July 25 - Ottawa | | | |
| East Germany | 4 | | | |
| East Germany | 4 | July 27 - Montreal | July 27 - Montreal | | |
| France | 0 | July 27 - Montreal | July 27 - Montreal | |
| France | 0 | East Germany | 2 | |
| July 25 - Sherbrooke | July 25 - Sherbrooke | | East Germany | 2 | |
| July 25 - Sherbrooke | July 25 - Sherbrooke | Soviet Union | 1 | |
| Soviet Union | 2 | Soviet Union | 1 | |
| Soviet Union | 2 | | | | July 31 - Montreal | July 31 - Montreal |
| Iran | 1 | | | | July 31 - Montreal | July 31 - Montreal |
| Iran | 1 | | | | East Germany | 3 |
| July 25 - Toronto | July 25 - Toronto | | | | | East Germany | 3 |
| July 25 - Toronto | July 25 - Toronto | | | | Poland | 1 |
| Brazil | 4 | | | | Poland | 1 |
| Brazil | 4 | July 27 - Toronto | July 27 - Toronto | | | |
| Israel | 1 | July 27 - Toronto | July 27 - Toronto | | | |
| Israel | 1 | Poland | 2 | | | |
| July 25 - Montreal | July 25 - Montreal | | Poland | 2 | | | |
| July 25 - Montreal | July 25 - Montreal | Brazil | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Poland | 5 | Brazil | 0 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Poland | 5 | | | | July 29 - Montreal | July 29 - Montreal |
| North Korea | 0 | | | | July 29 - Montreal | July 29 - Montreal |
| North Korea | 0 | | | | Soviet Union | 2 |
| | | | | | Brazil | 0 |

#### Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 9 |
| 2 | Poland (POL) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 7 |
| 3 | Soviet Union (URS) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 8 |
| 4 | Brazil (BRA) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | France (FRA) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 5 |
| 6 | Israel (ISR) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 3 |
| 7 | Iran (IRI) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
| 8 | North Korea (PRK) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 2 |
| 9 | Mexico (MEX) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 2 |
| 10 | Guatemala (GUA) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 2 |
| 11 | Cuba (CUB) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 1 |
| 12 | Spain (ESP) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0 |
| 13 | Canada (CAN) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 |

### Goal scorers
#### 2 goals

* Vicky Peretz

#### 1 goal

* Itzhak Shum
* Yaron Oz

### Squad

Head coach: David Schweitzer
| No. | Pos. | Player | DoB | Age | Caps | Club | Tournament games | Tournament goals |
| 1 | GK | Yitzhak Vissoker | Sep 18, 1944 | 31 | ? | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 4 | |
| 2 | DF | Avraham Lev | Aug 24, 1948 | 27 | ? | Beitar Tel Aviv | 2 | |
| 3 | MF | Yaron Oz | May 10, 1952 | 24 | ? | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | Haim Bar | May 14, 1954 | 22 | 4 | Maccabi Netanya | 4 | |
| 5 | MF | Moshe Schweitzer | Apr 24, 1954 | 22 | ? | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4 | |
| 6 | FW | Vicky Peretz | Feb 11, 1953 | 23 | ? | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | Itzhak Shum | Sep 1, 1948 | 27 | ? | Hapoel Kfar Saba | 4 | 1 |
| 8 | DF | Eli Leventhal | Mar 18, 1953 | 23 | ? | Hapoel Haifa | 4 | |
| 9 | MF | Rifaat Turk | Sep 16, 1954 | 21 | ? | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 2 | |
| 10 | FW | Gideon Damti | Oct 31, 1951 | 24 | ? | Shimshon Tel Aviv | 4 | |
| 11 | GK | Yosef Sorinov | May 17, 1946 | 30 | ? | Hapoel Ramat Gan | 0 | |
| 12 | DF | Meir Nimni | Sep 29, 1948 | 27 | ? | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4 | |
| 13 | FW | Oded Machnes | Jun 8, 1956 | 20 | ? | Maccabi Netanya | 2 | |
| 14 | DF | Avi Cohen | Nov 14, 1956 | 19 | ? | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3 | |
| 15 | MF | Yehoshua Gal | Jul 11, 1951 | 25 | ? | Maccabi Netanya | 1 | |
| 16 | FW | Ehud Ben Tuvim | Aug 12, 1952 | 23 | ? | Bnei Yehuda | 0 | |
| 17 | DF | Alon Ben Dor | Mar 18, 1952 | 24 | ? | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 4 | |

## Gymnastics

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| | Dov Lupi | | |

## Judo

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| Men's -70 kg | Yona Melnik | Round of 32 | |

## Sailing

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| | Yehuda Maayan & Yoel Sela | | |

## Shooting

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| | Micha Kaufman | | |

## Swimming

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| | Dov Nisman | | |
| | Adi Prag | | |

## Weightlifting

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| Weightlifting—Men's Featherweight | Eduard Weitz | 5th | |

## Wrestling

| Event | Participant | Result | Ref |
| Men's Lightweight, Freestyle | Rami Miron | 7th | |