Israeli Swimmers Spelled 'Bring Them Home Now' at Olympics?

In July 2024, as the Summer Olympics commenced in Paris, a photograph of the Israeli artistic swimming team went viral, showing them forming the phrase "Bring Them Home Now" from an aerial view of  a pool. The phrase referred to Israeli hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Numerous posts showing the photograph claimed that because the Olympics Committee barred the team from wearing "Bring Them Home Now" pins on their uniforms, they opted to form the slogan in a pool at the Olympics. One post stated: "Olympic Swim Team from ISRAEL were not allowed to wear 'Bring Them Home Now' pins so they did this TO SUPPORT THEIR PEOPLE STILL HELD HOSTAGE BY TERRORISTS."

(Instagram user @dawnobrienhi)

While the Israeli artistic swim team did create such a slogan and the in-question photo was real, the claim that the protest occurred at the Paris 2024 Olympics was false. The photo was taken in November 2023 in a pool in Israel and was unrelated to the Olympic Games.

Also, while it is true that Olympic rules prohibit athletes from protesting during events — which, hypothetically speaking, would prohibit athletes from wearing the alleged "Bring Them Home Now" pins — we also found no evidence of the team attempting to wear anything of the sort during the Paris 2024 Olympics. For those reasons, we have rated the claim "Miscaptioned."

Using Google's reverse-image search, we traced the photograph to November 2023, when it was first posted by the official Instagram account for the Israel Artistic Swimming Team. According to that post's caption, which we translated via Google Translate, the photograph was taken at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel. 

The Instagram post stated (translated): "Israel's artistic swimming team took a photo at the weekend at the national pool at the Wingate Institute for a special photo for the return of the abductees to Israel. Ten female athletes participated in photographs taken from a drone and underwater."

The athletes named in the image were Eden Belcher, Shelly Bobritsky, Ariel Nashi, Nicole Nakhshonov, Kati Kunin, Maya Dorf, Neta Robichak, Shani Shraizin, Noi Gazela and Aya Mazor. Among those swimmers, only Bobritsky and Nashi (possibly spelled "Nassee") were competing in the artistic swimming category at the Olympics, according to the World Aquatics database and news reports. They're competing as a duo in the artistic swimming category. 

Shortly after it was uploaded by the artistic swimming team, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also shared the photograph with the caption: "A beautiful tribute by Israel's national artistic swimming team in tribute to the 240 hostages being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. We will not stop until each and every one of them are brought home."

The Olympics have been politically charged amid Israel's ongoing military assault on Gaza. As of this writing, more than 39,000 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the war, according to Gaza's Healthy Ministry. Hamas has abducted dozens of Israeli citizens to hold as hostages since October 2023. 

At the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, a Palestinian boxer appeared to be wearing a shirt that showed fighter jets dropping bombs above children. The president of the Palestine Olympic Committee told AFP that they received approval from the Olympic committee for the shirt saying it was an "anti-war" message that abides with the Olympic Charter. 

Per Olympic rules, athletes are banned from expressing political views during competitions and official ceremonies. The charter states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." However, athletes can make such expressions in "mixed zones," like while they're speaking to journalists, waiting for a competition to begin, posting on social media, and more.