Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previous record having been 40 in 2000, and was broken in 2016 with 47.

Among the medal hopefuls were Ariel Ze'evi, and also Udi Gal and Gideon Kliger, 3-times world bronze medalists in sailing 470 class, Shahar Tzuberi, world bronze medalist in sailboard Neil Pryde RS:X class, and tennis men's double team Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, winners of the 2008 Australian Open and #3 seeds in the Olympic tournament.

However, beside disappointment from failures of medal hopefuls, such as Arik Ze'evi, Udi Gal and Gideon Kliger, and Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, there were some fine performances from other athletes.

The Gymnasts excelled and recorded first finals in Israel Olympic history by Alex Shatilov, 8th in men's floor (best achievement in artistic gymnastics), the rhythmic team placed sixth on its debut in the team all-around event, while Irina Risenzon placed 9th in the rhythmic individual all-around event.

There were plenty of national records in the swimming pool – 11 in 17 races – and 3 swimmers achieved 4 top-16 places between them, more than any previous Olympics.

[48] Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram, Tzipora Obziler and Shahar Pe'er competed in tennis.