From figure skating to bobsleigh: Israel’s Winter Olympic team arrives in Italy

Nine Israeli athletes and one Paralympian are ready to represent Israel at the Winter Olympics in Italy, which officially opened on Friday.

Some 90 countries are competing for the medals in Italy.

While Israel has won 20 medals at the Summer Games, it has yet to win a medal at the Winter Games. Nevertheless, the president of the Olympic Committee of Israel, Yael Arad, emphasized during a press briefing the significance of Israeli participation in major international sporting events.

“We feel the responsibility on our shoulders and the privilege of continuing to fly the Israeli flag in every location, and global sport is an incredible opportunity for that,” Arad said.

“We will be one of 90-something countries [there], and we’re very proud of that,” she added. Arad made history in 1992 when she won an Olympic Silver medal for Israel, the first Olympic medal in Israel’s history.

Arad acknowledged that while Israel “is not a winter country; we’re not a country that specializes in winter,” that “we expect to raise the Israeli flag and achieve the best results that our athletes can.”

The 20-year-old Moscow-born figure skater Mariia Seniuk held the Israeli flag at the opening ceremony in Milan.

Seniuk noted the significance of representing Israel during an interview in December.

“Today there is so much antisemitism and many negative things said about Israel, but I feel like a Jew who is very proud to represent Israel,” Seniuk said in the interview with Israel's Makor Rishon news outlet.

“When I’m competing, I’m focused on what I need to do, I’m not listening to background noise – and even if there is, it doesn’t affect me,” she said.

Israel’s bobsleigh team recently made history by qualifying for the Winter Olympics for the first time ever. Led by the U.S.-born athlete Adam Edelman, the bobsleigh team constitutes roughly half of the total Israeli winter Olympics delegation. Team member Uri Zisman recalled when he was first approached by Edelman

“‘My name is AJ, I’m going to the Olympics, do you want to come with me?’ And I thought, ‘Who is this crazy guy?’”

Former rugby player, Ward Fawarseh, is the first Israeli Druze to represent Israel at the Olympics. He said, “Until I met AJ, I didn’t even know there were Winter Olympics.” Looking ahead, Fawarseh said he aims to “represent the [Druze] community, to open doors to competitive sports on a high level.” He assessed that the community has “so many young people with huge potential… and I want to be the person who can direct them and help them, and give them the tools.”

In 2018, Edelman attempted to bring the Israeli bobsleigh team to the Olympics without success. However, he said he refused to give up and said he was proud that the team finally qualified.

“Without the flag, we are just the crazy people going down a mountain,” he explained. “But with the flag, we are something else. The dream is for all of us to achieve our own personal best, but for our country as well, and for the people we represent.”

Hungarian-Israeli ski siblings Noa and Barnabas Szollos will represent Israel for the second time after competing in the 2022 Beijing Games. While representing Israel, the Szollos currently reside in Hungary and the twins have been training in Austria. Last month, Noa told Ynet News she decided to represent the country because “it was nice to connect to Israel this way, to learn about a new culture, a new country. It was a good decision that helped us a lot… I feel very connected to my Jewish roots.”