Fact Check: Old image of Israeli swimming team falsely linked to 2024 Paris Olympics

Those sharing the image claim that it shows the team expressing artistic solidarity after Olympic authorities banned them from wearing yellow ribbons. Yellow ribbons are traditionally symbols of readiness to welcome home prisoners or hostages. This is in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

An X user shared the photo with the caption, “The @Olympics won’t allow @Olympic_Israel Team to wear yellow pins at #Paris2024 for the hostages, but that ain’t gonna stop them!”

Similar posts can be seen here and here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The image is old and not related to the ongoing Paris Olympics.

A reverse image search led to a post on X by i24NEWS English dated November 19, 2023, with the caption, “Israel’s artistic swimming team calls for the return of the 240 hostages kidnapped by #Hamas that are being held in #GAZA #BringThemHome — Adam Spiegel.”

We confirmed the date on the image from the photographer Adam Spiegel’s official Instagram account, where he posted the same photo with the caption “home, now!”

A keyword search also revealed a post by the official Instagram account of ‘Israel’s artistic swimming team’ on the same date, mentioning that the team took a photo at the Wingate Institute’s national pool to raise awareness about the hostages.

The post mentioned, “The sportswomen requested through the photos to convey a message: ‘Like the whole country, we are also waiting and hoping that all the abductees will return home soon. We decided to film this gesture in the hope of raising awareness of the crimes against humanity committed against Israelis and against citizens from many countries.’”

Hence the claim that an image of the Israeli swimming team shows them protesting at the 2024 Paris Olympics after being banned from wearing yellow ribbons is misleading. The image is from November 2023 and is unrelated to the Olympics.