{"id":308738,"date":"2026-02-25T02:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/308738\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T02:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:29:10","slug":"israel-bobsleds-aj-edelman-blames-arbitrary-rule-for-olympics-exit-the-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/308738\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel bobsled’s AJ Edelman blames ‘arbitrary’ rule for Olympics exit \u2013 The Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Israel<\/p>\n

Israel bobsled captain AJ Edelman said more context was needed to understand the team\u2019s illegal substitution. Photo by Carmen Mandato\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Louis<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Louis Keene<\/a><\/p>\n

February 24, 2026<\/p>\n

The man who piloted the Israeli bobsled team to its first-ever Olympic Games defended the athlete-swapping scheme that led to the team\u2019s removal from competition, saying in an interview with the Forward that the Israeli sporting authority blew the incident out of proportion.<\/p>\n

The Olympic Committee of Israel said it pulled the team<\/a> after learning that a member had faked an illness in order to allow the substitution of a teammate in his place.<\/p>\n

AJ Edelman, the team\u2019s captain, did not contest that account. He said that the substitution was unanimously agreed to by the group, calling it \u201cessentially a normal maneuver\u201d at the Olympics given what he called a \u201csomewhat arbitrary\u201d rule that allows alternates to compete only when an athlete is medically unable to continue.<\/p>\n

The reason it didn\u2019t work, he said, was that the teammate chosen to fake sick tipped off the Israeli committee, which needed to approve the substitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the only team to have made that sort of substitution in the competition,\u201d Edelman, 34, said in a phone interview with the Forward from Prague, shortly after midnight local time Tuesday. \u201cWe are the only team for which the person then was just upset that he was the one doing it and made a scene about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The swap would have made Ward Fawarsy, who was traveling with the squad as an alternate, the first Druze Israeli to appear in Olympic competition. Instead, the committee pulled the team before its third race, cutting short Israel\u2019s run with two heats remaining.<\/p>\n

The Israeli committee said in a statement that it had reported the matter to the International Olympic Committee and would conduct an investigation after the Games.<\/p>\n

The exit \u2014 which Edelman characterized as a voluntary withdrawal \u2014 blighted a budding underdog success story. The team, nicknamed \u201cShul Runnings\u201d (a play on the title of a popular movie about the 1988 Jamaican team<\/a>), had scrapped its way into the Olympics without financial support from Israel \u2014 largely thanks to the perseverance of Edelman, its indefatigable spearhead, who told the Forward he saw the team as a \u201choly endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a national sports program behind him, Edelman, a former MIT hockey goaltender, had recruited Israeli athletes from other sports to the project \u2014 Zisman was a former pole vaulter, Fawarsy played rugby \u2014 and crowdfunded relentlessly to pay for their training. He said this year was the first he broke even, with the team\u2019s costs totaling to around $300,000.<\/p>\n

After narrowly missing qualification in 2022 and 2026, Israel broke through<\/a> in January, receiving an invitation after the United Kingdom decided to send only one team instead of two.<\/p>\n

But at the end of a whirlwind month in which the team was burglarized<\/a> at its pre-Olympic lodgings, booed<\/a> at the opening ceremony and drawn into controversy involving multiple<\/a> foreign broadcasters<\/a>, Israel\u2019s withdrawal left it below teams that crashed in the final results for 4-man bobsled, marked \u201cDid Not Start\u201d<\/a> on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

Israel also finished last out of 26 teams in 2-man sled.<\/p>\n

Taking the plunge
\n\"\"Israel\u2019s 4-man bobsled team was in 24th place out of 27 when one team member falsely claimed an illness. Photo by Tiziana FABI \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The fake illness plan was set in motion after the second of four heats in the 4-man competition, with Israel in 24th place out of 27 and medaling out of reach.<\/p>\n

Olympic rules generally do not allow alternates to compete unless a team member has to withdraw due to injury or illness. The idea to fake an injury, according to Edelman, had been Zisman\u2019s earlier in the year, when it appeared that he, not Fawarsy, would be the alternate. Edelman said he nixed the proposal at the time.<\/p>\n

But in Italy, with Fawarsy the alternate due to a pre-Olympics injury, Edelman went for the switch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWard\u2019s inclusion was important because of his years of service to the team, because of who he was and because of who he represented,\u201d Edelman said. \u201cI was quite proud that a group of young Israelis took a look at their brother, their teammate, and said, \u2018This is important for you. This is important for us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After the group agreed to the plan, the question became which team member would drop out.<\/p>\n

According to Edelman, Zisman thought it should be Menachem Chen, because he had raced with Edelman in the 2-man. But Zisman, Edelman said, \u201cwas the weakest performer. And given that Ward\u2019s position was his position in the sled, they were somewhat interchangeable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zisman appeared to begrudgingly go along with the arrangement at first, undergoing a medical exam and signing an affidavit to support the substitution request, according to Israeli officials. But Edelman said that during that process, Zisman volunteered that \u201canother athlete should do it instead, and at that point Israel made it what it became.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman said his team\u2019s alternate substitution ploy was not uncommon at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Olympic Committee of Israel said in a statement that Zisman had admitted to the head of the delegation that he had acted improperly, forcing the committee to withdraw the request and disqualify the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Olympic Committee of Israel views any deviation from the Olympic values as unacceptable and cannot accept inappropriate behavior,\u201d the OCI statement added. \u201cIt should be emphasized that, up to this point, the participation of the bobsleigh delegation has taken place in the spirit of sport and without any violations by the athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israel committee did not respond to questions sent by the Forward, and Zisman did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Edelman flatly disagreed with the committee\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that it was completely fine, given that it was essentially a normal maneuver,\u201d Edelman said. \u201cIt was really blown into something that we hadn\u2019t expected. Israel insisted on sort of making an example of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iced out of Italy
\n\"\"AJ Edelman, left, and Israel\u2019s Menachem Chen congratulate each other after competing in a 2-man bobsled heat. Photo by Stefano Rellandini \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The incident capped a Winter Olympics in which Israel appeared in more headlines due to controversy than competition. The country did not medal at Milan Cortina \u2014\u00a0it has never medaled at a Winter Games \u2014\u00a0and most of its athletes ended competition in the bottom half of contestants.<\/p>\n

The first Israeli delegation to compete at the Winter Olympics since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, was also a frequent target at the Games. Much of the ire from foreign press and other athletes targeted Edelman, who has been a vocal defender of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza on social media.<\/p>\n

As Israel was racing in the 2-man event, a commentator for a Swiss TV broadcast listed Edelman\u2019s comments and actions related to the war, which it said were \u201cin support of the genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/a> The network later apologized.<\/p>\n

An Italian commentator also landed in hot water after he told someone off camera but on live air to avoid the Israeli team.<\/p>\n

Edelman said the hostility extended to his fellow bobsled athletes, and claimed that one had called the team \u201cbaby killers.\u201d He declined to name the athlete or say what country he represented.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take a look at a guy like that, who has made the Olympics a couple of times, and I go, \u2018What a loser,\u2019\u201d Edelman said. \u201cHe spends his time worrying about Israelis or Jews? What a total loser. So I just don\u2019t put too much stock in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ward Fawarseh would have become the first Druze Israeli to compete in the Olympics. Photo by IOC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Edelman did not want to highlight the role Fawarsy\u2019s ethnic background played in the team\u2019s decision to break the rules, saying doing so \u201cminimizes him as an athlete and it minimizes him as a person, into something demographic.\u201d At the same time, he appeared to allude to Fawarsy serving in the IDF as a reason for his inclusion.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 12, 2023, Edelman posted a picture of Fawarsy to Instagram, writing in the caption that his teammate was \u201cserving on the front lines right now.\u201d (He edited the caption<\/a> earlier this month to, \u201cLove Ward. Send him a message with your support!\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe served Israel with distinction and a level of heroism that all of us aspire to have in our lives,\u201d Edelman told the Forward, adding, \u201cWard earned it and deserved it as much, if not more, than any of the other guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fawarsy did not respond to an inquiry.<\/p>\n

Frozen fallout<\/p>\n

Few in the public sphere have found inspiration in the team\u2019s intentional rule-breaking, even done in service of a Druze athlete\u2019s achievement. Israel\u2019s i24 news broadcast<\/a> called it a \u201cdramatic and disappointing development.\u201d The Times of Israel said<\/a> the team\u2019s \u201clegacy was tainted.\u201d<\/p>\n

And David Greaves, the president of the Israeli Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, told Times of Israel that he was \u201cdeeply disappointed in the actions of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman maintained that the public reaction reflected a lack of context about how the sport tends to operate.<\/p>\n

He compared the move to a football player seeking medical treatment to stop the clock<\/a> or buy time for fatigued teammates. But that ploy, he noted, conferred a competitive advantage his team\u2019s swap had not.<\/p>\n

The rule that alternates could not compete was arbitrary in Edelman\u2019s view because it was mostly designed to limit the census of the Olympic Village. He said that other teams had similarly broken the rule with none the wiser.<\/p>\n

\"\"AJ Edelman touts himself as the first Orthodox Jewish Winter Olympian. Photo by Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take a look at the sport from the outside and don\u2019t understand how the sport works, what the usual behavior is in the sport and why things are the way they are,\u201d he said, \u201cthe decision seems like a very heavy risk to have taken on. The move is not unusual. It is not uncommon whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

One other men\u2019s bobsled team did make a substitution at Milan Cortina: Romania\u2019s 4-man team.<\/p>\n

Other bobsled substitutions in previous Olympics include the Trinidad 2-man team in 2022, the Nigerian 2-woman team in 2018, and the 2-man teams for Canada and Australia in 2010. It was unclear under what circumstances those substitutions were made.<\/p>\n

And at least one alternate was substituted<\/a> in in another sport: Rich Ruohonen, an athlete on the U.S. curling team, entered competition late in a match with his team facing a near-insurmountable deficit. His throws made Ruohonen, 54, the oldest-ever U.S. Winter Olympian. It was unclear how he was able to substitute, and U.S. broadcasters embraced the moment. (Ruohonen could not be reached for comment.)<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> to X following news of the team\u2019s withdrawal, Edelman took accountability for the decision and said he believed he had been \u201cputting the country first.\u201d And while he believed Israel was held to a higher standard than other countries, he was not sure that should have influenced his team\u2019s choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have asked, \u2018Would you do it again?\u2019\u201d Edelman told the Forward. \u201cI think it would have been very hard in the future for all of us to take a look back on it and go, \u2018You know, every other team does this sort of thing \u2014 we were just not going to get Ward in there because we\u2019re looked at extra harshly if something goes wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s tough to explain to outsiders who don\u2019t know the sport,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo I feel very comfortable and confident in the decision that the team unanimously took.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York magazine and Vice. He is based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

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