The Israeli Bobsled Team Hits a Snag

You really can’t make this stuff up. It sounds like the B-plot of a made-for-TV movie about the Winter Olympics, right before the inspirational montage where the team bonds over adversity. But for the Israeli bobsled team, the drama is unfortunately very real, and it’s unfolding right before the curtain rises on the Milan Cortina Games.

Here is the situation: You have an underdog squad, competing in bobsled for the first time, grinding away at their training base. They are likely running on caffeine, adrenaline, and that specific anxiety that comes from hurling yourself down an icy chute at 80 miles per hour in a glorified bathtub. Then, chaos strikes.

While the team was out perfecting their craft on Saturday, someone decided to break into the apartment they’ve been using near their training grounds. And these thieves weren’t just looking for loose change. We’re talking passports, equipment, suitcases, shoes, and thousands of dollars worth of gear. Gone. Just like that.

A Bad Day At the Office (and the Apartment)

The news broke via AJ Edelman, the pilot of the Israeli sled and a man who seems to have nerves of steel—both on and off the ice. Edelman, a former skeleton racer who apparently decided face-first sliding wasn’t thrilling enough, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the ordeal.

According to Edelman, the violation was “gross.” And he’s right. There is something particularly invasive about having your temporary home ransacked while you are out trying to represent your country on the world’s biggest stage. Passports are a logistical nightmare to replace at the best of times, let alone days before you are supposed to head to the Olympic Village. It creates an administrative headache that no athlete needs when they should be visualizing turn three.

The team’s coach, Itamar Shprinz, was reportedly at the location, though details are still a bit fuzzy on whether he walked in on the aftermath or witnessed the event. Edelman himself was already in Italy, safe from the theft but undoubtedly fuming on behalf of his crew.

The “Israeli Spirit” vs. The Petty Thieves

Now, here is where the story pivots from a crime blotter item to a sports column. If you expected the team to fold, pack up their remaining socks, and wallow in misery, you don’t know much about this specific group of guys.

Edelman noted that despite the chaos, the “boys headed right back to training today.” He called it a prime example of the “Israeli Spirit.” And frankly, you have to hand it to them. There is a grit there that commands respect.

It adds a layer of texture to an already fascinating team composition. You’ve got Edelman, widely believed to be the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Games. Then you have Ward Fawarseh, likely to become the first Druze Olympian. It’s a melting pot of backgrounds united by the singular goal of going very, very fast.

The Long Road To Milan

Let’s not forget how they got here. This wasn’t a cakewalk qualification. Israel punched their ticket to the Olympics only after Great Britain declined one of its allocated spots. It was a “next man up” situation, and Israel grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

They are slated to compete in both the two-man and four-man events. Edelman is in the driver’s seat for both, with Menachem Chen pushing in the two-man, and Fawarseh and Omer Katz rounding out the four-man crew.

Official training starts in Cortina d’Ampezzo this Thursday. One has to hope they have their replacement shoes by then. Bobsled is a sport of precision; you can’t exactly run the push-start in loafers or borrowed sneakers.

Why We Root For the Underdogs

There is a reason stories like this resonate. The Olympics are ostensibly about physical perfection and national glory, but the moments we actually remember are the human ones. We remember the failures, the comebacks, and the weird hurdles that life throws in the way.

Getting robbed days before the Games is a hurdle. It’s a distraction. It’s a violation for the Israeli bobsled team. But weirdly, it might be the galvanizing moment this team didn’t know they needed. Nothing bonds a group of guys together quite like a mutual enemy. athletic gear.

If this Israeli team manages to put down a clean run in Cortina, it won’t just be a victory for their athletic training. It’ll be a nod to their mental fortitude. They aren’t just battling G-forces and the clock anymore; they’re battling the chaos of life itself.