Israeli Olympic bobsled captain doubles down on loyalty to country after broadcaster condemned his team for it

Team Israel Olympic bobsled captain AJ Edelman has accomplished a life mission — leading the first ever Israeli bobsled team to the reach the Olympics.

He had to sacrifice millions in Bitcoin to get his team to Milan Cortina, then had to live off smoked salmon and pizza for two weeks when he got there. 

It wasn't even the best pizza that he's had. He prefers Chicago deep dish. 

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And the whole team had to take some arrows throughout the process. The hotel Edelman's team was saying at was burglarized days before the competition began.

Then, when they finally made it onto the track, a broadcaster went on a politically charged tirade against the team while it competed. The broadcaster 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 several messages on social media in support of the genocide in Gaza," RTS presenter Stefan Renna said during the team's heat in the men's two-man bobsled Olympic competition on Feb. 16. 

"This raises the question of his presence in Cortina during these games, since the [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 via 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 found out about it, including Edelman and his teammates. 

"This individual clearly pre-wrote a diatribe timed to two minutes, you know, the entirety of our 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. I said that. I said what I said. I believe Israel is just. I believe it's a force for good. I stand for that force for good. I represent that force for good. So when someone just says that I represent evil or I am evil for representing what I represent, it's like water off the back." 

Multiple members of the Israeli team served in the nation's military. Some of them were deployed to Gaza to fight Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

"Israelis are Israelis. What they do in the service of the country is always going to define who they are," Edelman said. 

"We view ourselves right now entirely as athletes… I can say that as athletes, as men, as humans and Israelis, I'm very proud of their accomplishments on the Olympic stage."

The team finished 26th in the two-man bobsled 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 golds and silvers in Milan Cortina. 

Still, Edelman considers the team's trip a success worth celebrating due to its historic symbolism and the adversity it took to get there. 

The team came just 0.01 seconds shy of making the Beijing Games four years ago. Then many of the team's athletes were called to war after Oct. 7 the following year. 

For Edelman, just ensuring the team existed at that point was anything but certain. 

They came all the way back to qualify for Milan Cortina in what was, one way or another, Edelman's last attempt at the Olympics.

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But they couldn't even make it to Milan Cortina before adversity struck. 

En-route to Italy, the team was staying at a hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. As captain, Edelman traveled ahead to Venice, and that's when he found out his team's hotel in Prague had been burglarized and vandalized. 

"It was just another Tuesday for us," Edelman said. 

"We've been turned away from staying from places in Germany because it was Christmas Eve and they saw that we're Jewish. Another athlete who is competing in The Games this time actually said that he wouldn't ever compete on this team because Israel is a bunch of ‘baby killers.’ A swastika was drawn on our team van." 

They moved past the burglary to put their best foot forward once the competition began. 

The reward came when fan mail from Israel started flowing in. It reminded Edelman and his teammates why they did this. They wanted to inspire their countrymen, especially the next generation, to achieve unlikely feats. 

"The reception of the team has been overwhelming," Edelman said. "They're putting their hopes and their dreams into your journey, and that'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'll remember 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.

"I still haven't processed really being here," Edelman said. "I don't know what it will look like when all that is said and done…. 

"I've woken up every day for the last 12 years and went to bed every night for the last 12 years with a goal in mind, and with a determination to get this thing done. Now that I will have realized that it is done, I don't know exactly how that will look like, I think in some sense I'm worried, in some sense I'm excited."

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