Three words you thought you would never hear: Israel’s bobsled team. Israel — not known for snow — had one in the Olympics this year. For the first time. It made headlines away from the track — for a robbery. For boos. For a bad error on the last day. And for a welcome by fans and fellow athletes throughout.
Israel’s four-man bobsled team, qualified for the 2026 Winter Games at the last moment — when Great Britain’s representatives dropped out.
In normal years, a first-time bobsled team might be merely a PR boon for Israel.
Which, overall, the bobsledders were — a David-meets Goliath story. But this year is not a normal year. This is what happened to Israel’s athletes:
First, anti-Semitism — yes and no.
For Israelis in many academic or artistic settings, their on-the-job performance nowadays transcends what they do; a tide of protests and boycott demands have greeted them since Oct. 7, 2023. Israeli athletes were not exempt — there were reports of booing when the main Israeli delegation marched in the opening ceremonies in Milan.
But the athletes received a warm reception in Cortina, where a separate, smaller-scale ceremony was held before the sliding events took place. No booing — and the Israelis heard shouts of “Shabbat Shalom,” says David Greaves, president of the Israeli Olympic Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation.
In the Olympic Village, Greaves says, the Israelis “were as welcome as anyone else,” trading much-desired Israeli Olympic pins with the other athletes, and singing in Hebrew during a karaoke night, “cheered by the other athletes.”
Second, crime — ‘bad luck.’
The athletes’ apartment in the Czech Republic, where they were training before the Olympics, was robbed. Passports, and thousands of dollars’ worth of other possessions were taken.
Greaves believes it was a simple robbery; no vandalism of the apartment was reported; no anti-Semitic graffiti was found. It was “just bad luck.”
Third, competition for fans’ affection.
The Israeli bobsledders were not the only athletes from a warm-weather country who took part in this year’s Milan-Cortina Games, which concluded Feb. 25.
The 2026 Israeli Olympians were following in the groove-steps of the 1988 bobsledders from Jamaica, who became international celebrities when the unlikely story of winter athletes from a tropical, Caribbean nation was told in the 1993 film, “Cool Runnings.”
The Israelis adpted the nickname, “Shul runnings.”
But a new squad of Jamaicans (other athletes from the island have taken part in Olympic bobsledding several times since 1988), qualified for this year’s Games, and had a built-in fan base.
The Israeli team didn’t.
Like other athletes from warm-weather countries who enter cold-weather sports, the Israelis and Jamaicans, were rivals, and have a respectful relationship as fellow athletes.
Israel’s two-man bobsled team, which received less media attention than the four-man team, finished in last place. The four-man team, which was in 24th place entering the fourth and final heat on the last day of the Games, was unexpectedly disqualified.
The IOC discovered that Fawarseh, the Druze athlete, had traveled to the Olympics as an alternate, and would not be allowed to compete unless another member of the team was unwell. But the Israeli team did not follow correct procedure in its desire to give Fawaresh an Olympic experience.
The Jamaicans also finished well out of medals contention.
Israel competing at the Winter Olympics isn’t about medals,” a team spokeman said, “it’s just about being there and saying we too belong on the global stage despite all of the impediments.”
Bobsledding, in which lone athletes, or two- or four-athlete teams, barrel down a narrow, banked, twisting, iced 4,000-foot-long course at speeds up to 93 mph, in hand-steered, highly-engineered sleds that weigh about 400 pounds, is a niche sport in most years — but it gains a larger following during Olympic years.
In Israel, where the nearest bobsled track is some 1,200 miles away, it is particularly niche.
David Kufeld is a Long Island-born athlete who has long advocated Jewish participation in sports.
An Israeli bobsled team “goes contrary to the pervasive media image of Israel,” says Kufeld, a center on the Yeshiva University basketball team four decades ago who was drafted by the NBA Portland Trail Blazers in 1980, and made aliyah in 2019.
“Things like this are of vital importance post 10/7, as we — Israelis, and all Jews — need to carry on as normal. When we are reticent and ashamed, we give credence to the haters out there.
“Having a Druze athlete on the team also sends a great message.”
Other Jewish winners at the winter Olympics
Brothers Quinn and Jack Hughes (game-winning goal in the championship game), and Jeremy Swayman, were on the Team USA men’s hockey team that won the gold medal;
Canadian hockey goalie Kayle Osborne was on the team that finished second.
Australian snowboarder Scotty James won silver.
US speed skater Emery Lehman won silver as part of the team pursuit.
US curler Korey Dropkin won silver in the mixed event.
Austrian-American Jewish mogul skier Avital Carroll finished 7th;
Miami-born Jared Firestone, competing for Israel in skeleton, finished 22nd; Israeli cross-country skier Atilla Mihaly Kertesz, from Hungary, finished in 110th in the 10-K freestyle cross-country race; Israeli figure skater Mariia Seniuk finished 24th; and Noa and Barnabas Szollos, brother and sister alpine skiers from Hungary, who compete for Israel, finished 35th and 33rd, respectively.