Israel disqualifies its own Olympic bobsleigh team for lying to officials

By Amy Spiro

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22 February 2026, 8:07 am

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Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel

Israel's AJ Edelman, left, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman and Omer Katz arrive at the finish during a four-man bobsleigh run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)

In a shock move, Israel’s bobsleigh team has been disqualified from completing its competition today in the four-man bobsleigh event by Israeli Olympic officials.

In a statement to the Times of Israel, the Olympic Committee of Israel says it has barred the team from competing today after one of its athletes lied to Olympic officials in order to allow their teammate, Ward Fawarseh, to compete in their stead.

Israel competed yesterday with the makeup of AJ Edelman, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman and Omer Katz. As of this morning, the team was still slated to compete according to the official schedule, but with Edelman, Chen, Fawarseh and Katz.

Had he taken to the ice, Fawarseh would have been Israel’s first-ever Druze Olympian. But he traveled to the games officially as an alternate, and wouldn’t be allowed to compete unless another member of the team was unwell.

“The bobsleigh team asked to include Ward, the substitute, in the competition. According to the rules, this is only permitted if one of the athletes is injured or ill,” the Olympic Committee of Israel says. “In order to make this possible, one of the team members — encouraged by his teammates — declared that he was unwell. He even went for a medical examination and signed an affidavit so that the Olympic Committee could request approval for a substitution.”

Afterward, the OCI says, “he admitted to the head of the delegation that he had acted improperly. This forced the Olympic Committee of Israel to withdraw the request and disqualify the move.”

The OCI says that the team’s behavior was “improper” and “goes against fair and sportsmanlike conduct.”

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Israel Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation. Edelman’s X account appears to no longer exist, though it is not clear if he deleted it or was banned from the platform.

Following its first two runs yesterday, the team was in 24th place out of 27 competitors after three sleds crashed during the second run.