Hebrew Hammer Makes History: A. J. Edelman Guides Israel to First-Ever Olympic Bobsleigh Entry

By: Justin Winograd

When the quiet buzz of a laboratory was suddenly pierced by the vibration of a smartphone, A.J. Edelman knew his life had just changed. There was, quite literally, a needle in his arm. Distracted from a blood test he would have preferred not to endure, Edelman glanced down at his phone and saw a message slide across the screen: congratulations. Israel’s bobsleigh team had officially qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan–Cortina.

“I jumped up,” Edelman later recalled, still astonished by the moment. “And I pulled the needle right out of my arm.”

VIN News, which has followed Edelman’s unlikely athletic journey for years, reported on Sunday that the moment marked not only a personal triumph but a historic milestone for Israeli sports. For the first time, the Jewish state will be represented in Olympic bobsleigh—one of the fastest, most dangerous, and most resource-intensive disciplines in winter athletics.

The qualification caps a 12-year odyssey that Edelman described as the lifting of a “monumental weight” from his shoulders. It is also his second Olympic appearance. In 2018, he competed in skeleton at the Pyeongchang Games, becoming Israel’s first Orthodox Winter Olympian. Yet even that achievement, he has said repeatedly in interviews cited by VIN News, was never the final destination.

“I never wanted to be an Olympian,” Edelman explained. “For me, the Olympics are a tool. They’re a tool for changing how the Jewish community views itself in sport.”

Born and raised in Boston in a Modern Orthodox home, Edelman grew up immersed in Jewish learning alongside athletic ambition. He attended MIT, where he played ice hockey as a goaltender, before making aliyah in 2016. Israel, however, is not a country known for winter sports infrastructure. There are no bobsleigh tracks carved into Alpine mountains, no sprawling state-funded winter academies. For most athletes, that reality would have marked the end of the dream.

For Edelman, it became the challenge.

According to the information provided in the VIN News report, Edelman was initially approached to join Israel’s hockey program, a more natural fit given his background. Instead, he chose bobsleigh precisely because it was harder. The sport demands two- or four-man teams hurtling down an icy track at speeds exceeding 90 miles per hour, with crashes that can be both spectacular and catastrophic. Qualification is notoriously unforgiving, and the financial barriers are immense. The United States program, Edelman noted, reportedly operates on a budget exceeding $8 million.

Israel’s program did not.

“Speed skating would’ve been a far easier path forward,” Edelman admitted. “But if the choice is between a journey that’s likely and a journey that’s basically impossible—I’ll take the impossible.”

That choice defined the years that followed. Edelman set about building Israel’s bobsleigh program from scratch, recruiting athletes, securing equipment, and convincing sponsors and officials that the vision was not fanciful. Training took place wherever ice could be found—often abroad—and funding gaps were bridged through relentless advocacy and personal sacrifice. The effort was complicated further by Israel’s security reality. In recent years, some team members were called up for IDF reserve duty amid regional conflicts, forcing training schedules to bend around national service.

VIN News reported that the team’s eventual qualification was the result of cumulative points earned across international competitions, a painstaking process requiring consistency, resilience, and a tolerance for physical risk. Each run down an icy track carried not only the possibility of advancement but the ever-present threat of injury.

The payoff, when it came, resonated far beyond Edelman himself.

Yael Arad, chair of the Israeli Olympic Committee and the country’s first-ever Olympic medalist after winning silver in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Games, called Edelman “a real phenomenon.” Speaking to VIN News, Arad praised what she described as his defining qualities: “determination and stubbornness.”

“He made an extreme and unbelievable journey, driven by passion,” Arad said. “He inspired many people to believe in his dream and brought in several highly motivated athletes to run alongside him.” She added that Edelman’s impact extends well beyond medals. “He shows the young Jewish generation what resilience truly means, and I am sure his signature will have a meaningful impact.”

That impact is already visible in the composition of the team itself. The four-man squad heading toward Milan–Cortina features Edelman as pilot, joined by Menachem Chen, Ward Fawarsy, and Omer Katz, with Uri Zisman serving as alternate. Together, they represent a cross-section of Israeli society, united by a shared willingness to pursue excellence in a field where Israel had no prior footprint.

The story has drawn inevitable comparisons to the Jamaican bobsled team immortalized in the 1993 film Cool Runnings. Edelman embraces the analogy—but with a distinctly Jewish twist. “This is our ‘Shul Runnings’ moment,” he joked, a line that the VIN News report highlighted as emblematic of his blend of humor and cultural pride.

Yet the comparison only goes so far. Where Jamaica’s team emerged as a novelty embraced by audiences worldwide, Israel’s entry into bobsleigh carries deeper symbolic weight. For Edelman, the mission has always been about reshaping perceptions—both external and internal—of Jewish athletic identity.

“For a long time,” he has argued in interviews cited by VIN News, “Jews saw themselves as not belonging in certain physical spaces. I wanted to challenge that.” The Olympics, in his view, offer a global stage on which Jewish resilience, discipline, and courage can be displayed without apology.

The timing of the qualification also matters. As Israel navigates ongoing security challenges and heightened international scrutiny, moments of collective pride take on added significance. The team’s success has been celebrated across Israeli social media, with messages pouring in from diaspora communities as well. The sight of Israeli athletes charging down an icy track at breakneck speed—wrapped in blue and white—has struck a chord.

The Milano–Cortina Winter Olympics, scheduled to open in February 2026, remain more than a year away. Much work lies ahead: refining technique, securing additional funding, and continuing to compete at the highest level. Edelman is under no illusions about the difficulty of the task. Olympic bobsleigh is dominated by countries with decades of experience and deep institutional support.

But if the past decade has proven anything, it is that underestimating this team would be a mistake.

The VIN News report characterized Edelman’s journey as one of the most improbable in Israeli sporting history, a description that feels less like hyperbole with each passing milestone. From a Boston childhood to aliyah, from MIT hockey goalie to skeleton racer to bobsleigh pilot, Edelman has consistently chosen the harder road. In doing so, he has dragged an entire program into existence.

As Israel prepares to take its place at the starting gate in Milan–Cortina, the story is no longer just about one man or one sled. It is about the redefinition of possibility. It is about a small country refusing to be confined by expectations—whether climatic, cultural, or historical. And it is about a generation of young Jews, watching from afar, suddenly able to imagine themselves not only in the stands, but on the ice itself.

The needle has long since been removed from Edelman’s arm. The message, however, continues to resonate. Israel is going bobsleigh racing at the Olympics—and the echo of that achievement is only beginning to be felt.