Just before the final day of competition at the Milan Cortina 2026, Israel’s bobsled team member, Uri Zisman, falsely claimed to be ill. However, things took a turn when Zisman admitted that he “acted improperly” to let reserve Druze athlete compete on his behalf. The incident didn’t sit well with the country’s Olympic Committee, who decided to completely stop them from competing, leading to a massive controversy.

AJ Edelman, who was also a part of the four-member team, responded to a fan on X, “I make no apologies for the decision. At all. The switch is not only common in our sport, we did it believing it was good for the country and to honor our teammate.”

The squad wanted to include Ward Fawarseh, who would have become the first Druze Israeli to compete in the Winter Games for the third heat. However, Edelman confirmed that there was no ethical breach involved.

He added, “We thought we were putting country first. The end effect was not intended but I am proud of the team’s consensus in that moment. It was only an issue because the mother of the athlete replaced was upset it was her child, not another athlete. The decision itself was not in question and I remain okay with it.”

This sentiment carried the fear lurking beneath the controversy, as the original fan statement read, “Thanks dude. If you think Israeli Olympic Committee was reluctant not sending athletes to Olympics before…(although they definitely deserved it) wait what they’ll do from now on. So not only yall embarrassed yourselves but also put future athletes and delegations in jeopardy.”

The Olympic Committee of Israel made it very clear that the Olympian had declared himself unwell, submitted to examination, and signed legal documentation to support the substitution request. However, when he admitted that the claim was untrue, the committee had no choice but to act.

“The Olympic Committee of Israel views any deviation from the Olympic values as unacceptable and cannot accept inappropriate behavior,” they wrote in a statement, as reported by ESPN.

Israel’s first Olympic bobsled team made history simply by arriving in Cortina, but they left with their final run that never took place and were shrouded in controversy. However, there was an additional controversy at the Winter Games that drew worldwide focus.

Vladyslav Heraskevych’s story at the Milan Olympics

Vladyslav Heraskevych arrived at the Milan Olympics with more than the goal to medal. He was seen wearing the ‘helmet of remembrance’ that had the faces of multiple Ukrainian athletes who had lost their lives because of the ongoing tensions between his country and Russia. However, eventually he was told not to wear the helmet, which he didn’t follow, causing the IOC to suspend him from the competitions.

“I feel the same as the last four days. I believe I didn’t violate any rules, so therefore I shouldn’t be suspended and I should be today part of the Olympic Games, part of the competition, but not part of the hearing. And yeah, so we continue to fight for our truth,” the skeleton racer said, before the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

He was confident, but the committee had its reasons not to let him wear the special helmet in the events. Indeed, a tearful IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, who visited the 26-year-old at Cortina’s sliding track at 07:30 local time, made the attempt to stop him from the act.

“No-one is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message of remembrance, it’s a message of memory, and no-one is disagreeing with that,” she said.

“What I proposed to him this morning and to his dad – because he also said when he goes down it’s blurry, you can’t really see it – so I said: ‘Could we find a solution where we pay homage to his message, to his helmet before he races, then as soon as he’s finished racing going into the mixed zone where you can see the pictures?’ Sadly, we’ve not been able to come to that solution. I really wanted to see him race today. It’s been an emotional morning.”

The athlete who had carried his nation’s flag now carried its agony, banned not for a crime but for a gesture to honor his fallen compatriots. “This is [the] price of our dignity,” he said, as he watched his Olympic dream sacrificed on the altar of principle, as a country that has lost everything watched one of its own lose his moment for them.