Adam Edelman

Adam Jeremy "A. J." Edelman OLY (born March 14, 1991) is an American-born Israeli sliding sports athlete. He is a seven-time Israeli National Champion in sliding sport (skeleton and Bobsleigh)[1] who competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[2] Edelman is the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics, and the first Orthodox Jewish man to compete in either Olympic iteration.[3] Edelman is training for the 2026 Beijing Olympic Games and program general manager for the Israel bobsled team.[4][5]

Adam Edelman
Personal information
Native nameאדם אדלמן
Full nameAdam Jeremy Edelman
Nickname(s)A. J.
The Hebrew Hammer
National team
  • Israel Olympic Skeleton Team
  • Israel Bobsled Team
Born (1991-03-14) March 14, 1991
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Yale School of Management (MBA '23)
Years active2014–2018 (skeleton)
2019–present (bobsled)
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight83 kg (183 lb)
Websiteisraelbobsled.team
Sport
CountryIsrael
Sport
Coached bySelf-coached
Medal record
Men's skeleton
Representing  Israel
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
National Championship 4 – –
Total 4 0 0
Men's Bobsled
Representing  Israel
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
National Championship 3 – –
Total 3 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 Alex Edelman who helped found Off the Wall Comedy in Jerusalem.[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][7] He is an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management.[13]

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."[14][15] He was named a 2021 European Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Sports and Games category for his efforts of using his platform to campaign against bullying and increase LGBTQ participation in sport.[16]

Sports career

Hockey

Edelman's first sport was ice hockey, which he began playing at age three, as a goaltender.[17][7] 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[15] where he was given an assessment that he would never be competitive.[13][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][13][7][19]

Edelman entered the final days of 2018 Olympic qualification outside of qualification position, needing two 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.[15][32][33]

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 athlete.[35][10][33][32]

Bobsled

Post-skeleton, Edelman dedicated his efforts to qualifying an Israeli bobsled team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.[5][36] Neither the two-man nor four-man team qualified.[37] He is now focused on qualifying a team for the 2026 Olympics.

In February 2021 Edelman placed second at a locally organized international bobsleigh competition, considered Israel's first bobsleigh podium in international competition.[38] At the 2021 Korea Cup, Edelman's team secured Israel's highest IBSF sanctioned bobsleigh result, placing fourth out of six entrants.[39]

Edelman is a recipient of Jew in the City's Orthodox Jewish All Star award.[40] Some of his equipment is on display at the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, NY.[41]

References
  1. "Conversation with an Israeli Olympian - Form - Temple Shaaray Tefila". shaaraytefilanyc.shulcloud.com. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  2. Allon Sinai. "Blue-and-white delegation Pyeongchang reaches 10 athletes". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  3. Levine, Sara (January 18, 2018). "AJ Edelman, The First Orthodox Jewish Male Olympian, Is Ready For Gold! – Jew in the City". Jew in the City. Archived from the original on November 3, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  4. "ABOUT". Bob Team Israel. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  5. Wolkin, Joseph. "Israel Is Kicking Off An Unlikely Bid To Qualify For 2022 Winter Olympics In Bobsled And Skeleton". Forbes. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  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. January 31, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  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 August 21, 2019.
  11. "MIT President L. Rafael Reif's charge to the Class of 2018 | MIT EECS". www.eecs.mit.edu. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  12. Israel's bobsled athletes aim to go where no Israeli has gone before, Haaretz
  13. "The First Orthodox Jewish Male Olympian Meets SCHA Students | Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven". www.jewishnewhaven.org. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  14. Josephs, Allison (February 12, 2019). "AJ Edelman accepts the Jew in the City All Star Award". YouTube. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020.
  15. Olympian AJ Edelman: "Israel Skeleton – What Defines a Champion", Talks at Google, retrieved January 7, 2019 – via YouTube
  16. "Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2021: Sports & Games". www.forbes.com. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  17. "PyeongChang Skeleton – Results & Videos". International Olympic Committee. April 10, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  18. Simmons, Rabbi Shraga (February 14, 2018). "The Hebrew Hammer's Amazing Path to the Winter Olympics". aishcom. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  19. "'The Hebrew Hammer' set to make Israeli Olympic history". WFLA. February 8, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  20. "2014 N.G.A Drug-Free Annapolis Bodybuilding, Figure, Physique & Bikini Top 5 Results". ep.yimg.com. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  21. "I failed. I quit. I made the Olympics." -AJ Edelman | AJ(Adam) Edelman | TEDxWPI, retrieved October 14, 2019
  22. Gonzalez, Susan (January 14, 2020). "Yalies make their mark as 'human bullets'". YaleNews. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  23. Hudes, Sammy (February 26, 2018). "First Israeli skeleton Olympian's track slid through Calgary". Calgary Herald. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  24. "A.J. Edelman Goes For Gold". Tablet Magazine. January 29, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  25. "IBSF – International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  26. "IBSF – International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  27. "First Israeli skeleton Olympian's track slid through Calgary". Calgary Herald. February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  28. "8 ways YouTube is changing sports fandom (for the better)". Think with Google. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  29. "2018 Winter Olympics: AJ Edelman, an Orthodox Jew, is Israel's first skeleton athlete". Mic. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  30. "Olympian's North Shore ties". Jewish Independent. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  31. "MIT alumnus to compete in Winter Olympics". MIT News. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  32. "MIT alumnus to compete in Winter Olympics". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  33. Webster, Riley (November 16, 2020). "This Yale MBA Student Is Close To Making Olympic History — Again". Poets&Quants. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  34. "Israel's Edelman eliminated in Olympic skeleton". Times of Israel. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  35. "Adam Edelman". www.ibsf.org. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  36. "Israeli bobsleigh team targeting spot at Beijing 2022". www.insidethegames.biz. July 6, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  37. Spiro, Amy. "Israel's 2022 Olympic bobsled dreams are crushed. But AJ Edelman is not giving up". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  38. "מבצע שלג". www.yediot.co.il. February 28, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  39. "IBSF - International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation". www.ibsf.org. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  40. Levine, Sara (July 19, 2019). "Save The Date For The 6th Orthodox Jewish All Stars Event!". Jew in the City. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  41. "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. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
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