The Olympic Committee of Israel (OCI) has disqualified its four-man bobsleigh team from competing in Sunday's final run at the 2026 Winter Olympics after officials discovered that one of its athletes lied to allow their teammate to compete.
According to an official statement, one athlete, later identified as Uri Zisman, falsely claimed to be ill to justify the inclusion of a substitute, Ward Fawarseh. Competition rules allow substitutions only in cases of verified injury or illness. The athlete in question underwent a medical examination and signed a certificate to support the formal replacement request.
The OCI said that Zisman “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 team.
“Information reached the heads of the Israeli delegation to the Olympic Games indicating that members of the bobsleigh team sought to replace one of the participants in an improper manner that does not meet the standards expected of Olympic athletes and is not aligned with Olympic values. Therefore, it was decided not to allow the bobsleigh team to participate in the competition," the Israeli committee said in a statement.
“A thorough review will be conducted upon the team’s return at the conclusion of the Games. The decision on the immediate suspension was also made with the agreement of the athletes themselves. The Israeli Olympic Committee views any deviation from the principles of fair play with great severity, and we cannot accept conduct that is inappropriate. We categorically condemn such behaviour."
Israel competed in Saturday's heats with the makeup of AJ Edelman, Menachem Chen, Zisman and Omer Katz. As of Sunday morning, the team was still slated to compete according to the official schedule, but with Edelman, Chen, Fawarseh and Katz.
Had he competed, Fawarseh would have become the first Druze athlete to represent Israel at the Olympic Games.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Sunday morning, Edelman wrote that since the team was not in a competitive position and had no chance of winning, “it was more important to us that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.”
He added: "The circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the high bar that allows a team to make a lineup change, and we withdrew from our final run.”
After two completed heats, the Israeli team ranked 24th out of 27 competitors. Only the top 20 sleds qualify for the fourth and final heat.
The team made history as the first to represent Israel at the Winter Olympics, being held in Milano and Cortina.
The matter has been referred to the International Olympic Committee.
