Israeli Olympic officials have disqualified Israel’s four-man bobsleigh team from finishing their event today, Times of Israel reported on Sunday.
The Olympic Committee of Israel told the publication that it has prevented the country’s four-man bobsleigh team from taking part in today’s competition after one athlete provided false information to officials to let teammate Ward Fawarseh compete in his place.
Per the report, Israel had raced on Saturday with Adam Edelman, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman, and Omer Katz. Although the team was originally scheduled to compete this morning with Edelman, Chen, Fawarseh, and Katz, the disqualification has halted their participation.
Fawarseh would have become Israel’s first Druze Olympian had he competed, but he arrived at the Games as an alternate and was only permitted to race if another team member was unwell.
“The bobsleigh team asked to include Ward, the substitute, in the competition. According to the rules, this is only permitted if one of the athletes is injured or ill,” the Olympic Committee of Israel said, according to Times of Israel.
“In order to make this possible, one of the team members – encouraged by his teammates – declared that he was unwell. He even went for a medical examination and signed an affidavit so that the Olympic Committee could request approval for a substitution.”
After admitting that he had lied, the athlete told the head of the delegation that he “had acted improperly,” forcing the Olympic Committee to withdraw the request and disqualify the move, the OCI said. The committee called the team’s actions “improper” and said they “go against fair and sportsmanlike conduct.”
After the first two runs on Saturday, Israel’s team was in 24th place out of 27, following crashes by three sleds during the second run.