Adam Edelman

Adam (AJ) Edelman, OLY (born March 14, 1991) is an American-born Israeli sliding sports athlete. He is a four-time Israeli National Champion in the skeleton event who competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[1] Edelman is the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics, and the first Orthodox Jewish male to compete in either Olympic iteration.[2] Edelman is training for the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games and program General Manager for the Israel Bobsled team.[3][4][5]

Adam (AJ) Edelman
Personal information
Native nameאדם אדלמן
Nickname(s)The Impossible Olympian; The Hebrew Hammer
National teamIsrael Olympic Skeleton Team; Israel Bobsled Team
Born (1991-03-14) March 14, 1991
Boston, Massachusetts
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (2014, Mechanical Engineering), Yale School of Management, MBA '23
Years active2014–2018 (skeleton); 2019–present (bobsled)
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight83 kg (183 lb)
WebsiteIsraelskeleton.com ; BobTeamIsrael.com
Sport
CountryIsrael
SportOlympic Skeleton, Bobsled
Coached bySelf-coached (YouTube)
Medal record
Men's skeleton
Representing  Israel
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
National Championship 4 – –
Total 4 0 0

Biography

Adam Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.[6] He was raised in a Zionist, Modern Orthodox home by parents Cheryl (a lawyer) and Elazer Edelman (a biomedical engineer, physician, professor, and inventor).[7] He is the middle of three boys. His elder brother is comedian and television writer Alex Edelman.[8][9]

Edelman graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.[10] He was a member of the MIT Men's hockey team and a staff editorial columnist for the MIT newspaper, the Tech.[10] MIT President Rafael Reif's 2018 commencement address used Edelman's Olympic journey as a basis of his message to the graduating class.[11]

Edelman immigrated to Israel in 2016 and trained at Wingate Institute.[12] He is a dual American-Israeli citizen.[9][13] He is an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management.[14]

Edelman is nicknamed the "Hebrew Hammer," a reference to the title character in the 2003 American comedy film The Hebrew Hammer.[10]

Edelman has said he is a supporter of anti-bullying and mental health initiatives, and that his motivation for continuing in sport is largely a desire "to use my Olympic journey as a platform to promote further Jewish and Israeli involvement in sport."[15][16]

Sports career

Hockey

Edelman's first sport was ice hockey, which he began playing at age three, as a goaltender.[17][13] He continued to play hockey through high school for the Brookline Warriors hockey team and at MIT, where he was the program's first ever sabbath observant player.[10] Edelman helped the MIT Engineers win two divisional championships[18] in the Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) Division II league.

Bodybuilding

Edelman competed as an NGA accredited bodybuilder,[19] placing in a top-3 medal finish at the 2014 NGA Annapolis Bodybuilding Championships.[20]

Skeleton

Edelman tried skeleton for the first time at the Olympic facilities in Lake Placid, NY in March, 2014[16] where he was given an assessment that he would never be competitive.[14][21][22] The Israeli team was similarly told that Edelman would "get down the track but that’ll be the most of it."[23] Nevertheless, Edelman set out a goal of qualifying for the 2022 Olympics.[24][9]

In his first race at the 2014 North American Cup, Edelman finished 18.64 seconds behind the race winner,[25] and after hearing another athlete indicate that given his poor performance Edelman would quit within 2 years, decided to focus on making the 2018 Olympics, rather than 2022.[18] In the 2018 Olympic qualification season, Edelman had cut this deficit to 1.19 seconds, placing ninth.[26]

In 2016, he decided to quit the sport and return to work, but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to train full-time, resigning from his job as a product manager at Oracle.[27]

Lacking funds, Edelman could not afford a coach and was self-taught.[28][29][30] He reinforced his learning of the sport by watching nearly 12 hours of YouTube video daily.[31][14][7][19]

Edelman entered the final days of 2018 Olympic qualification outside of qualification position, needing 2 medal performances in the Lake Placid North American Cup races to jump up the ranking table. He secured Israel's first sliding sport Olympic berth by earning a fifth place medal in both races.[16][32][33] IBSF medals are awarded for top-six placement.

Edelman competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, finishing in 28th place.[34]

Edelman competed in two World Championships for Israel,[17] and retired from skeleton as Israel's most decorated slider, winning four Israeli national titles and two medals in IBSF-sanctioned international competition, the most of any Israeli sliding sport athletes.[35][10][33][32]

Bobsled

Post-skeleton he has dedicated his efforts to qualifying an Israeli Bobsled team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.[5] In April, 2020, Edelman founded, has managed, and competes as part of an initiative called Operation Medal '26. OM26 seeks to capture Israel's first ever Winter Olympic medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and to qualify Israel's first ever Olympic Bobsled team at the 2022 Olympic Games.[36][37] OM26 seeks to field both men's and women's teams, a first in Israeli Bobsled history, under the collective team name "BobTeam Israel.[4]" BobTeam Israel has representation of Israeli Arabs,[5] Jews, and LGBTQ+.[4]

Edelman is a recipient of Jew in the City's Orthodox Jewish All Star award.[38] Some of his equipment is on display at the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, NY.[39]

References
  1. Allon Sinai. "Blue-and-white delegation Pyeongchang reaches 10 athletes". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  2. Levine, Sara (2018-01-18). "AJ Edelman, The First Orthodox Jewish Male Olympian, Is Ready For Gold! – Jew in the City". Jew in the City. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
  3. "LinkedIn AJ Edelman".
  4. "ABOUT". Bob Team Israel. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  5. Wolkin, Joseph. "Israel Is Kicking Off An Unlikely Bid To Qualify For 2022 Winter Olympics In Bobsled And Skeleton". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  6. "AJ Edelman, Israel National Skeleton Athlete". Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  7. "Trained on YouTube, a Bostonian Will Be Israel's First Olympian to Compete in the Games' Most Dangerous Sport". Haaretz. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  8. Levine, Sara (January 17, 2018). "AJ Edelman, the First Orthodox Jewish Male Olympian, is Ready for Gold". Jew in the City. Edelman attended Maimonides Day School, where he and his older brother Alex, now a comedian in LA...
  9. Sullivan, Tara (February 14, 2018). "Skeleton racer AJ Edelman living the dream at Olympics". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  10. Rungta, Ahaan. "AJ Edelman '14 to represent Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics". The Tech. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  11. "MIT President L. Rafael Reif's charge to the Class of 2018 | MIT EECS". www.eecs.mit.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  12. Israel's bobsled athletes aim to go where no Israeli has gone before, Haaretz
  13. "Trained on YouTube, a Bostonian Will Be Israel's First Olympian to Compete in the Games' Most Dangerous Sport". Haaretz. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  14. "The First Orthodox Jewish Male Olympian Meets SCHA Students | Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven". www.jewishnewhaven.org. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  15. Josephs, Allison (12 February 2019). "AJ Edelman accepts the Jew in the City All Star Award".
  16. Talks at Google, Olympian AJ Edelman: "Israel Skeleton – What Defines a Champion" | Talks at Google, retrieved 2019-01-07
  17. "PyeongChang Skeleton – Results & Videos". International Olympic Committee. 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  18. Simmons, Rabbi Shraga. "The Hebrew Hammer's Amazing Path to the Winter Olympics". aishcom. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  19. "'The Hebrew Hammer' set to make Israeli Olympic history". WFLA. 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  20. "2014 N.G.A Drug-Free Annapolis Bodybuilding, Figure, Physique & Bikini Top 5 Results". ep.yimg.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  21. "I failed. I quit. I made the Olympics." -AJ Edelman | AJ(Adam) Edelman | TEDxWPI, retrieved 2019-10-14
  22. Gonzalez, Susan (2020-01-14). "Yalies make their mark as 'human bullets'". YaleNews. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  23. Hudes, Sammy (2018-02-26). "First Israeli skeleton Olympian's track slid through Calgary". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  24. "A.J. Edelman Goes For Gold". Tablet Magazine. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  25. "IBSF – International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  26. "IBSF – International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  27. "First Israeli skeleton Olympian's track slid through Calgary". Calgary Herald. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  28. "8 ways YouTube is changing sports fandom (for the better)". Think with Google. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  29. "2018 Winter Olympics: AJ Edelman, an Orthodox Jew, is Israel's first skeleton athlete". Mic. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  30. "Olympian's North Shore ties – Jewish Independent". Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  31. "MIT alumnus to compete in Winter Olympics". MIT News. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  32. "MIT alumnus to compete in Winter Olympics". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  33. Webster, Riley (2020-11-16). "Poets&Quants | This Yale MBA Student Is Close To Making Olympic History — Again". Poets&Quants. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  34. staff, T. O. I. "Israel's Edelman eliminated in Olympic skeleton". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  35. "Adam Edelman". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  36. "BobTeam Israel Official Site". Bob Team Israel. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  37. "Israeli bobsleigh team targeting spot at Beijing 2022". www.insidethegames.biz. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  38. Levine, Sara (2019-07-19). "Save The Date For The 6th Orthodox Jewish All Stars Event!". Jew in the City. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  39. "AJ Edelman Olympian OLY on Instagram: "Donated some equipment to the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Long Island yesterday. The HOF is in the Suffolk Y. JCC and is a really nice…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
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