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Team Israel Olympic bobsled captain AJ Edelman has completed a lifetime mission – leading the first-ever Israeli bobsled team to reach the Olympics.
He had to sacrifice millions in Bitcoin to get his team to Milano Cortina and then he had to live on smoked salmon and pizza for two weeks when he got there.
It wasn’t even the best pizza he’s had. He prefers Chicago deep dish.
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And the whole team had to take some arrows throughout the process. Hotel Edelman’s team said there was a break-in days before the competition began.
Then, when they finally got onto the field, a television station went on a politically charged tirade against the team as it competed. The television station referenced the military service of several athletes on the team.
“Edelman, a first-time Olympian and self-described ‘Zionist to the core’ who has posted numerous messages on social media in support of the genocide in Gaza,” RTS host Stefan Renna said during the team’s heat of the men’s two-man bobsled Olympic competition on February 16.
“This raises the question of his presence in Cortina during these games, then [International Olympic Committee] had indicated that athletes who have – and I quote – ‘actively supported the war by participating in pro-war events, being militarily engaged or through their activities on their social media networks’ were not eligible to participate.”
The entire broadcast was later removed from the RTS website. But millions had already figured it out, including Edelman and his teammates.
“This person has obviously pre-written a diatribe timed to two minutes, you know, our entire run. I just think it’s so sad, I don’t know how you can live like that,” he said.
“On a personal level, I’ve dealt with so much worse. I said those things. I said I’m a Zionist, I said I’m proud of Ward [Fawarseh]who served. That’s what I said. I said what I said. I think Israel is fair. I believe it is a force for good. I stand for that power for good. I represent that power for good. So when someone just says I represent evil or I’m evil for representing what I represent, it’s like water off my back.”
Several members of the Israeli team served in the country’s military. Some of them were deployed to Gaza to fight Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attacks.
“Israelis are Israelis. What they do in the service of the country will always define who they are,” Edelman said.
“We see ourselves right now completely as athletes… I can say that as athletes, as men, as people and Israelis, I am very proud of their achievements on the Olympic stage.”
The team finished 26th in the two-man bobsleigh competition, falling short of Edelman’s pre-Olympic goal of making the top 20. Germany won 10 of all 12 bobsled medals and all eight gold and silver medals in Milano Cortina.
Still, Edelman considers the team’s trip a success worth celebrating because of its historical symbolism and the hardships it took to get there.
Israel’s Adam Edelman, left, and Menachem Chen celebrate at the end of a two-man bobsleigh race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The team came just 0.01 seconds back from participating in the Beijing Games four years ago. Then many of the team’s athletes were called to war after October 7 of the following year.
For Edelman, making sure the team existed at the time was anything but safe.
They came all the way back to qualify for Milan Cortina in what was, one way or another, Edelman’s final attempt at the Olympics.
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But they couldn’t even make it to Milan Cortina before adversity hit.
On the way to Italy, the team stayed at a hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. As captain, Edelman traveled on to Venice, and that’s when he learned that his team’s hotel in Prague had been broken into and vandalized.
“It was just another Tuesday for us,” Edelman said.
“We have been turned away from places in Germany because it was Christmas Eve and they saw that we are Jewish. Another athlete participating in The Games this time actually said he would never compete on this team because Israel is a bunch of ‘baby killers’. A swastika was drawn on our team van.”
They moved past the break-in to put their best foot forward as the competition began.
The reward came when fan mail from Israel started pouring in. That reminded Edelman and his teammates why they were doing this. They wanted to inspire their countrymen, especially the next generation, to achieve improbable feats.
“The reception of the team has been overwhelming,” Edelman said. “They put their hopes and dreams into your journey, and it’s just something very special. When they think back on it, they probably won’t remember you, they probably won’t remember you at all, but they will remember that the country was represented.”
In the final days of the Games, as Edelman came to the end of his journey of more than a decade, he reflected on it all.
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Israel’s Adam Edelman, left, and Menachem Chen, right, arrive at the finish line during a two-man bobsleigh race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
“I still haven’t really processed being here,” Edelman said. “I don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s all said and done…
“I’ve woken up every day for the last 12 years and gone to bed every night for the last 12 years with a goal in mind and a determination to get this done. Now that I want to realize that it’s done, I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, I think in some ways I’m worried, in some ways I’m excited.”
