Gymnastics

GYMNASTICS COIN 2011/5771
Commemorative Coin in honor of the Israel Olympic Delegation to the 2012 Olympic Games

Israel is proud of the recent high performances of its gymnasts in international competitions, which have brought them into the world's foremost group of competitors; Alex Shatilov, Irina Risenzon and Neta Rivkin achieved high results in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, as well as in the 2009 and 2010 European and World Championships.

In anticipation of the 2012 London Olympic Games, the Israel Olympic Committee set the following goals:
To come home with an Olympic Medal for the 6th consecutive time.
To have an Israeli female athlete awarded a medal on the winners' platform.
To win an Olympic medal in a sport in which Israel had not yet won.

In Gymnastics, Israel had a good chance of achieving these goals and this was therefore the Olympic Game chosen for feature on the Israel Commemorative Coin that was to join the world collection of coins, capturing the excitement of the Games in London.
Gymnastics is visually one of the most attractive of the Olympic Games. Furthermore, Gymnastics demands outstanding strength, balance, coordination, flexibility and grace and requires strenuous and disciplined training in addition to talent. The Olympic Gymnastics competitions are divided primarily into Rhythmic and Artistic categories.

Obverse: Face value in Hebrew and English, Israel State Emblem, "Israel" in Hebrew, English and Arabic, mint year, the Israeli flag formed by a ribbon used in an artistic gymnastic exercise.

Reverse: An impressive ribbon performance by a gymnast, with the ribbon flying in the air in the shape of a Star of David.

Edge:
Silver Prooflike Coin: Smooth
Silver Proof and Gold Coin: Milled

Mint Marks: Below the face value:
Silver Prooflike Coin – Star of David
Silver Proof and Gold Coin – Hebrew letter "Mem"

Designer: David Harel

Engraving: Tidhar Dagan

Mint: Royal Dutch Mint