A country’s Olympic Committee has explained why it pulled its own bobsleigh team from the 2026 Games just one day before they were due to race.
With the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games reaching their closing stages, many nations are finishing the competition with gold, silver and bronze medals.
But for Israel’s bobsleigh squad, the final day ended before it began, after the team was barred from taking part.
On February 11 — 24 hours before their scheduled run — Israel’s bobsleigh team was disqualified by the Olympic Committee of Israel.
The day prior to the decision, the four-man sled featured AJ Edelman, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman and Omer Katz.
However, a change was made for the following day, with Ward Fawarseh set to replace Zisman.
After that alteration, the Olympic Committee of Israel removed the team from the final-day event. Here’s what it said led to the decision.
In a statement to The Times of Israel, the Olympic Committee of Israel said the team “asked to include Ward, the substitute, in the competition”.
According to reports, the regulations allow an athlete to be replaced only if another team member is “injured or ill”.
The Olympic Committee of Israel added: “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.”
It said the move ran counter to what is expected of Olympians and the “core Olympic values”, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.
The committee also said the athlete later came forward and “admitted” he’d “acted improperly”.
“This forced the Olympic Committee of Israel to withdraw the request and disqualify the move,” the statement says.
The committee concluded: “The decision to suspend the team was made with the agreement of the athletes themselves.
“The Israel Olympic Committee takes any deviation from the principles of fair play seriously and will not accept behavior that is unbecoming of Olympic standards. We strongly condemn such actions in every way.”
Requests for comment were sent to the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committee of Israel.
In the bobsleigh race, Switzerland finished third, the United States took silver, and Germany claimed gold.
Germany also secured gold in the two-woman bobsleigh final and the two-man competition.