Israel got caught cheating in bobsled at the Olympics. Actually, it did not get caught!
It exposed its own violation and self-imposed a suspension.
The four-man bobsleigh team will not be allowed to compete in the final runs at the Olympics by its own decision. Rather, by the decision of its delegation.
Israel cheated and lied!
Israel did compete on Saturday in the first two runs of the event. Its lineup featured AJ Edelman, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman and Omer Katz.
According to the official schedule, Israel was still set to compete in the finals as of early Sunday morning. However, its listed roster swapped Zisman for Ward Fawarseh.
Fawarseh would have been Israel’s first-ever Druze Olympian if he was to participate. Except he went to the Games as an alternate. That means he is not allowed to get in the sled unless another member of the team was unwell. An alternate can only compete if another athlete is sick or injured.
This is where things get interesting.
Zisman, with the encouragement of his teammates, declared that he was ill even though he was not. He even went for a medical examination and signed an affidavit. The affidavit clears the Olympic Committee to request approval for a substitution. The bobsled team tried to replace him with Fawarseh.
But Zisman was not unwell. And he knew he was not unwell!
The Israeli bobsled athlete ultimately could not keep up with his lie. Zisman admitted to the head of the delegation that he acted improperly so the Olympic Committee of Israel denied the request to replace him with Fawarseh.
The bobsled team will not compete at the Olympics.
Not only did the Olympic Committee of Israel shut down the alternate replacement, it disqualified the team from further competition all together. Its four-man bobsled team will not participate in the finals.
“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.
Israel wants to be very clear that it does not condone this kind of shenanigans.
“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.”
A thorough review will be conducted upon the team’s return at the conclusion of the Games. They are disqualified indefinitely.
Edelman posted a statement to Instagram in defense of the false claim of illness. The team was in last place among teams that completed their first runs and did not have any chance to win. The athletes wanted to get Fawarseh in the lineup so he could compete in the Olympics. It was not malicious.
“Given that our placement going into the final run was all but predetermined, it was more important to use that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. The team moved to make the replacement. But the circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the bar that allows a team to make a lineup change, and we withdrew from our final run.”
That might not be exactly what happened but that is the story. For whatever reason, Israel’s four-man bobsled team tried to cheat and lied. It later tattled on itself and got disqualified by its own delegation. Awkward.