Adam Edelman is an eight-time Israeli National Champion in sliding sport who competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
22 Facts About Adam Edelman
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Adam Edelman is the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics, and the first Orthodox Jewish man to compete in either Olympic iteration.
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In 2023, Adam Edelman became the first ever Israeli to take a podium in a sanctioned Bobsled race and in March, 2024 became the first Israeli to secure the overall podium on the North American Cup.
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Adam Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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Adam Edelman graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
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Adam Edelman was a member of the MIT Men's hockey team and a staff editorial columnist for the MIT newspaper, The Tech.
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Adam Edelman immigrated to Israel in 2016 and trained at Wingate Institute.
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Adam Edelman is an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management.
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Adam Edelman is nicknamed the "Hebrew Hammer," a reference to the title character in the 2003 American comedy film The Hebrew Hammer.
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Adam Edelman 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.
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Adam Edelman helped the MIT Engineers win two divisional championships in the Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association Division II league.
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Adam Edelman competed as an NGA accredited bodybuilder, placing in a top-3 medal finish at the 2014 NGA Annapolis Bodybuilding Championships.
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Adam Edelman tried skeleton for the first time at the Olympic facilities in Lake Placid, NY in March 2014 where he was given an assessment that he would never be competitive.
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Adam Edelman reinforced his learning of the sport by watching nearly 12 hours of YouTube video daily.
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Adam 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.
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Adam Edelman secured Israel's first sliding sport Olympic berth by earning a fifth place medal in both races.
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Adam Edelman competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, finishing in 28th place.
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Adam Edelman competed in two World Championships for Israel, 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.
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Post-skeleton, Adam Edelman unsuccessfully attempted to qualify an Israeli bobsled team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
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In 2023, five of Adam Edelman's teammates were drafted to serve in the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza War.
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Adam Edelman strung together a season by bringing in new athletes in each race for the IBSF North American Circuit, ultimately winning Israels first ever sanctioned Bobsleigh podium.
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Adam Edelman is a recipient of Jew in the City's Orthodox Jewish All Star award.