Israeli bobsled team’s apartment robbed ahead of Milan Winter Games, says athlete
Bobsled pilot AJ Edelman says burglars pinched passports, thousands of dollars’ worth of items in weekend break-in, adds that team pushed ahead, kept training despite setback
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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — An Israeli bobsled pilot said the apartment that he and some fellow Olympians have been using while finishing their training for the Milan Cortina Winter Games was robbed Saturday, with passports and “thousands of dollars’” worth of other items among what was taken.
The apartment was not located in Italy. The team has been training in Europe but has asked not to disclose the exact location.
Some members of the team have not arrived in Italy yet and aren’t expected to leave their training base until this coming week.
AJ Edelman, a former Olympic skeleton athlete who is now the driver for the national bobsled team, said in a series of social media posts that the squad continued training Saturday even after local police opened an investigation.
Edelman said how the team handled the day “is just such a fine example of how we push forward in difficult circumstances,” he wrote on X. “Such a gross violation — suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today. I really believe this team exemplifies the Israeli Spirit.”
The Olympic Committee of Israel did not have any immediate comment.
Israel is competing in bobsled at the Olympics for the first time, having qualified after Britain decided not to take one of its two allocated spots for Milan Cortina. Israel was next in line and accepted the offer to compete when the last Olympic slots opened.
I have to say, the @israelbobsled Team is just such a fine example of how we push forward in difficult circumstances. Such a gross violation–suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today. I really believe this team exemplifies… https://t.co/ctjwEXLk9r pic.twitter.com/YLI5VmlRau
— AJ Edelman, OLY (@realajedelman) February 7, 2026
When reached by AP, Edelman said he was in Italy, not at the site of the robbery. He said team coach Itamar Shprinz, an Israeli CrossFit athlete, was there, but it was unclear whether Shprinz actually witnessed the robbery or was nearby when it occurred.
Israel plans to compete at the Olympics in both two- and four-man, with Edelman driving both sleds. He’s expected to be pushed by Menachem Chen in the two-man race, with Ward Fawarseh and Omer Katz listed as the athletes joining him for four-man.
Official bobsled training in Cortina d’Ampezzo was set to begin on Thursday.
Edelman — who raced in the head-first sliding sport of skeleton at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games — is believed to be the first Orthodox Jew to ever compete in a Winter Games. Farwaseh was likely to be the first Druze Olympian.
On Friday, much of Israel’s Olympic team attended the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan, but were met with a smattering of boos upon walking into San Siro stadium, at what had otherwise been an upbeat and festive celebration of the global winter sports extravaganza.
Israel, which has never won a Winter Olympics medal, has sent nine Olympians and one Paralympian to the Games this year.
Their Olympic participation comes at a time when Israel’s presence in international sports has been met with boycotts, bans and backlash over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led invasion on October 7, 2023, which saw some 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage into the Strip.
Israel’s subsequent war against the terror group killed more than 71,800 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, and devastated the Strip. The figure doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The Times of Israel Community.