The Olympic Committee of Israel over the weekend disqualified its own national bobsleigh team from the final day of competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics after an athlete falsely claimed illness in an attempt to allow a reserve to compete, Kan News reported on Sunday.
According to a committee statement shared with the state broadcaster, the delegation tried to replace one of its team members with Druze athlete Ward Fawarseh for Sunday’s four-man bobsleigh event.
Under Olympic rules, substitutions are permitted only in cases of injury or illness.
“A decision was made not to allow the bobsleigh team to participate in tomorrow’s competition,” the committee statement said, adding that the move “was made with the agreement of the athletes themselves.
“The Olympic Committee of Israel views any deviation from principles of fair play with great severity and cannot accept conduct that is unbecoming,” the statement cited by Kan News concluded.
The committee noted that the athlete in question had approached a team doctor and signed a medical affidavit so that the delegation could request approval for Fawarseh to compete on Sunday.
The athlete later admitted to the head of the Jewish state’s delegation that he acted improperly, prompting the committee to invalidate the request and prevent the team from competing.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Sunday that was later taken down, the team’s driver, Adam (“A.J.”) Edelman, wrote that since the Israelis had no chance to win, “it was more important to us that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.”
However, he admitted in the Instagram post, “the circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the high bar that allows a team to make a lineup change, and we withdrew from our final run.”
Edelman said the team was “sorry that this will not end for us in the way we had hoped,” but that he remained “proud of the history we made representing Israel.”
On Feb. 17, Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar urged the International Olympic Committee to censure the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation after one of its commentators accused Edelman and his fellow team members of supporting genocide in the war against Hamas.
Commentator Stefan Renna was covering Edelman’s participation on Monday in the men’s bobsleigh event for the Swiss RTS broadcaster when he accused the athlete of posting “several messages on social networks in support of genocide,” among several accusations.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also condemned the “Jew-hating Swiss ‘sportscaster’ [who] spewed bigotry & bile,” calling the remarks made during the live broadcast “beyond disgusting.”
On Feb. 7, while training in Italy for the Olympics, the Israeli bobsleigh team’s apartment was robbed, with thousands of dollars’ worth of property and passports stolen.
“Such a gross violation—suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today,” Edelman tweeted at the time. “I really believe this team exemplifies the Israeli spirit.”
