The team attempted an improper substitution to allow its Druze alternate to compete.By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel NewsIsrael’s Olympic Committee disqualified the national bobsled team from its final heat Sunday after determining that team members violated competition rules.“Information reached the heads of the Israeli delegation to the Olympic Games indicating that members of the bobsleigh team sought to replace one of the participants in an improper manner that does not meet the standards expected of Olympic athletes and is not aligned with Olympic values,” the committee said in a statement. “Therefore, it was decided not to allow the bobsleigh team to participate in the competition.”With the approval of teammates AJ Edelman, Menachem Chen and Omer Katz, Uri Zisman attempted to feign illness to give alternate Ward Fawarseh a chance to sled in the last race after having trained for years with the team.Fawarseh would have become the first Israeli Druze to participate in the Olympics.However, alternates may compete only in cases of legitimate medical or other serious necessity.According to the committee, Zisman underwent a medical exam and signed an affidavit so that the substitution could take place.He later admitted to his wrongdoing, and the decision was made to pull the team.“The Olympic Committee of Israel (OCI) views any deviation from principles of fair play with great severity and cannot accept conduct that is unbecoming,” it said.Edelman, the team captain, wrote on Instagram after the withdrawal that since the team was far from medaling, “it was more important to us that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.”He acknowledged, however, that “the circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the high bar that allows a team to make a lineup change,” and accepted the withdrawal.Israel ranked 24th after the first two heats on Saturday, benefiting from three crashes in the second heat.Only the top 20 teams advance to the fourth and final run.The disqualification came amid other controversies involving the Israeli team.Earlier in the Games, Swiss sports reporter Stefan Renna launched an on-air antisemitic rant against Edelman, accusing him of supporting “genocide in Gaza” and criticizing his outspoken Zionism.On Saturday, Italian state broadcaster RAI apologized after a behind-the-scenes comment instructing producers to “avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one,” became public.RAI’s board condemned the remark and apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes and viewers.CEO Giampaolo Rossi called it a “serious” breach of the network’s values of impartiality and inclusion and said an internal investigation had been opened to determine who had made the comment and what action would be taken as a result.The post Israeli bobsled team disqualified from competition appeared first on World Israel News.