The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 women, to compete across 17 sports at the Games.

Among the sports represented by its athletes, Israel marked its Olympic debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games), mountain biking, and triathlon, as well as its return to road cycling, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling after long years of absence.

The nation's full roster also reached a historic milestone for Israeli women, as they officially outnumbered the men for the first time.

Five of them participated in their third straight Games, namely windsurfer and 2008 bronze medalist Shahar Tzuberi, butterfly and medley swimmer Gal Nevo, synchronized swimmer Anastasia Gloushkov, artistic gymnast Alexander Shatilov, and rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin, who was chosen as the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, the first by a female since 1996 and fourth overall in Israel's Olympic history.

Several Israeli athletes advanced to the finals of their respective sporting events, but narrowly missed out of the podium, including the women's rhythmic gymnastics squad (captained by Alona Koshevatskiy) in the group all-around, triple jumper Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko, and windsurfer Maayan Davidovich in the women's RS:X. Israel participated in 16 Summer Olympics between its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[3][4] Among the sports represented by its athletes, Israel marked its Olympic debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games), mountain biking, and triathlon, as well as its return to road cycling, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling after long years of absence.

The nation's full roster also reached a historic milestone on the Israeli women, as they officially outnumbered the men for the first time.

237)[34] qualified directly among the top 60 eligible players for the women's event based on the International Golf Federation (IGF) World Rankings as of 11 July 2016.

[4] Due to Israel's inexperience representing golf athletes, Beck was required to procure all of her equipment to prepare for Rio, such as her uniform and hats.

[42] He did not advance following the qualification round in the floor and horizontal bar events due to not achieving eighth place or higher in either.

[49] The group was considered Israel's best chance for a gold at the Olympics after they had finished in first place for the hoops and clubs disciplines at the European Championships.

The group all-around achieved a total of 34.883 points and qualified for the final after finishing in sixth place in the qualification round.

[50] Neta Rivkin was the flag bearer of the Israeli team at Rio's opening ceremony, her third Olympic Games, at the age of 24.

Shira Rishony earned a continental quota spot from the European region as Israel's top-ranked judoka outside of direct qualifying position for the women's extra-lightweight (48 kg) class.

[70][71] In April 2016, Davidovich and Shahar Tzuberi, Beijing 2008 bronze medalist, secured their spots on Israel's Olympic delegation.

[82] In regards to qualifying for Rio, Richter said "the pressure ahead of Baku was unbearable and it took me a few seconds to regain my composure in the final once I realized I clinched my place in the Olympics.

[87] Yakov Toumarkin qualified at the 2015 Israel swimming State Cup after finishing the men's 200 metre backstroke final in 1:58.20 minutes.

[89] Ziv Kalontorov qualified at the 2015 European Games after he won a gold medal in the men's 50 metre freestyle with a time of 22.16 seconds, breaking the Israeli record.

Gal Nevo qualified after he won a silver medal at the 2016 European Aquatics Championships in London in the men's 200 metre individual medley with a time of 1:59.69 minutes.

Murez qualified after finishing the women's 50 metre freestyle in 25.12 seconds, which registered a new national record time.

Zohar Shikler qualified at the 2016 Israel swimming State Cup after finishing the women's 50 metre freestyle in 25.18 seconds.

[97] Israel fielded a squad of two synchronized swimmers to compete in the women's duet by virtue of their twelfth-place finish at the FINA Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro.

Ron Atias secured a place in the men's flyweight category (58 kg) by virtue of his top two finish at the 2016 European Qualification Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.

65) qualified directly to the event as one of the top 56 eligible players in the ATP World Rankings as of 6 June 2016[update], making him the first Israeli to compete in the men's singles tournament since 1992, when Gilad Bloom lost his second round match to Jim Courier of the United States.

[4] Ron Darmon was ranked among the top 43 eligible triathletes in the men's event based on the ITU Olympic Qualification List as of 15 May 2016.

[124] Israel received a quota place from IWF to send a male weightlifter to the Olympics, signifying the nation's return to the sport for the first time since 1996.

If Oliveira won her semifinal match, Kratysh could have competed for the bronze medal; however Oliveira lost in the quarterfinals to Enas Mostafa[130] Key: Prior to the Olympics, Facebook allowed users to add the Olympic logo and the team flag to their profile pictures, however Israel was not included on this list.

[137][138] A Saudi Arabian judoka, Joud Fahmy, was accused of forfeiting her match in order to avoid competing against Gili Cohen.

[141][142] Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby refused to shake hands with Israeli Or Sasson or to perform the traditional post-match bow (giving only a quick nod), after Sasson defeated El Shehaby in a first-round match in the heaviest weight class on 12 August.

"[144] El Shehaby was sent home early by the IOC and Egypt's Olympic committee for refusing to shake Sasson's hand.