As the world gears toward the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a team of Israeli athletes are working diligently to ensure their place in the Games and represent their country in a kind of sports of which most Israelis have never heard.
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Bobsled and skeleton are two similar winter sliding sports, with both requiring athletes to slide down a narrow and twisting ice track in a sled as quickly as possible, either as part of a team or alone.
But given the Israeli climate, how do athletes prepare for the competition, one might wonder.
"It is true that Israel has no ice tracks, and most likely never will, but the perception that only countries with a winter climate can succeed at the Winter Olympics is not true," David Greaves, president of the Israeli Olympic Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, told Israel Hayom.
"There are currently 12-13 active trails in the world, mostly in the United States, Canada, and some European countries. However, the number of countries competing in sliding sports is 65, which means that most countries competing in the Games don't have tracks.
"Britain won half the medals in skeleton in the previous Olympics, which proves that snowy countries are not the only ones who win in sliding."
Greaves is one of the founding fathers of Israeli bobsled. Together with a small group of bobsled enthusiasts, he laid the necessary infrastructure and sparked an interest in the industry that has until then been perceived in Israel as impossible to participate in.
Like Israel's bobsleigh and skeleton stars Adam (AJ) Edelman and Jared Firestone, Greaves too lives in North America. But the national team also includes Menachem Chen, Amit Haas, Ward Fawarsy, Amitay Tzemach, and Roman Shargaev.
"This is a mix you won't find anywhere else," Edelman said enthusiastically. "Sabras [native Israelis] alongside immigrants, religious and secular, Jewish and Druze."
The Beijing Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on Feb. 4, but the long road to determine who will get to compete on the ice track and who will watch it from home is not over.
The qualifying rounds are in full swing, and the final results will depend on a series of competitions based on the world rankings.
The task is far from simple. In skeleton, for example, only 25 men and 25 women will make their way to the Olympics, with three athletes to participate from the two top-ranking countries. The next four countries will be able to bring two athletes each, with at least one place reserved for the host, China.
This means that Israeli skeleton athlete Georgina Cohen will be competing for one of the remaining ten spots.
The main difference between bobsled and skeleton is the type of sled that is used. In bobsled, it is a large sled, weighing approximately 100 kilograms (220 pounds), with a cover that provides relatively high protection for the athletes in it, although accidents, including serious injuries and even deaths, are known to have happened.
In skeleton, the sled is smaller and simpler, and it does not surround the athlete's body. Instead, the athlete lies on his stomach and moves down the track head forward. In both cases, there are no steering wheels or breaks, and movement is controlled only by the athlete's body.
In both bobsled and skeleton, the sled can reach a speed up to 130 km per hour, which, given the curves in the track, makes it a dangerous sport, suitable to a select few.
One such person is Edelman, a Boston native and MIT graduate.
"Proudly Zionistic. Japanese trained sushi chef," his description on the website of the federation says.
Edelman has a rich sports career, having played hockey and done bodybuilding before. He first tested the skeleton waters in 2014.
"The beginning was disappointing, my first slide was terribly slow," Edelman told Israel Hayom. "But it just made me persevere more. To want to make it to the Olympics and into the Israeli national team."
In 2018, he fulfilled that dream by representing Israel at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He is said to be the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics, and the first Orthodox Jewish man to compete in either Olympic iteration.
Edelman was also accepted into an MBA program at the Yale School of Management, which he had to cut short as he transitioned from skeleton to bobsled.
"From 2007-2018 we mostly focused on skeleton for monetary reasons," he said.
Greaves explained, "Bobsled is very expensive because of the transportation costs from one training site to another, and the living costs of an entire team who live together for several years. In leading countries, funding is provided by associations, while in others, the athletes are the ones looking for the funds. The Olympic Committee of Israel counts us as part of the Olympic program and helps us, but 95% of the funding comes from efforts by those who participate in the sports."
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Edelman's first participation in the Olympics left him in debt, which took some time to pay off.
"I thought to myself, how can I get into debt again, since based on my calculations, it takes more than a million shekels a year to prepare for the Olympics," he said. "I turned to various organizations, but my requests were turned down."
Nevertheless, despite the difficulties and driven by his love of Israel, Edelman persisted.
"I thought about what the purpose of my life is," Edelman said. "I have come to the conclusion that it is to promote Israel through sports in a way that others can't. Sports is a wonderful public diplomacy tool, and we are ambassadors who can get to surprising places.
"In our field, the viewers are less interested in the names of the athletes, but they see the flag – and I want them to see the Israeli flag waving proudly. Wherever I am, in competitions and training, I express Israeliness through the symbols of the state.
"It is a great privilege for me to be a member of the Israeli national team because I know that the state has done much more for me than I for it. I know I have to return good with good, and sports is a wonderful means to achieve that," Edelman said.
