Israel is planning to send its largest delegation ever to the Winter Olympics that begin in PyeongChang, South Korea, on Feb. 25, 2018. Israel wants to expand the number of its participants in four sports: figure skating, speed skating, Alpine skiing and bobsled. In PyeongChang, for the second time in Olympic history, team figure skating will be an event and will include the 10 best teams in the world. If the Israeli skaters receive a sufficiently high adjusted calculated score from the World Championships and other competitions, they will qualify for the team event. Ironically perhaps, most members of the Israeli delegation do not live in Israel and speaking Hebrew is often a struggle for them. Israeli-based members of the delegation are mainly management personnel who travel to seminars abroad and visit Israeli training camps throughout the United States and Canada, sometimes even without knowing the athletes they are traveling to evaluate. The Israeli Olympic Committee's Elite Sport Department is aiming for a historic medal in short track speed skating. Vladislav Bykanov, a potential medal contender in the 1,500-meter race, will have to wait until the end of the year to know whether he is heading for PyeongChang. Bykanov, 27, competed at the Sochi games in 2014, but finished in 25th place. However, he has since won a bronze medal at the European Championships and has shown considerable improvement recently. Israel may also make history in the bobsled competition. A.J. Edelman, nicknamed "Samson" due to the painting of the biblical figure on his helmet, competes on the skeleton, a one-man sleigh that can reach speeds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour, is ranked 89th in the world. The top 60 will make it to PyeongChang. In the skeleton, countries are limited to a maximum of three racers, which gives "Samson" a chance at qualifying. The large number of participants in the alpine ski competition, over 300, means Israel will also be represented. Itamar Biran, who represented Israel at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, is the most likely to qualify. On the ice, where Israel has already established an impressive Olympic resume, are Alexei Bychenko, who won second place at the European Championships in 2016, and 18-year-old Daniel Samohin, the 2016 world junior champion. Bychenko and Samohin hope to qualify for the 2018 Winter Games at the World Figure Skating Championships in Finland in March.
Meanwhile, the growing popularity of figure skating in Israel can be seen this Thursday, Feb. 23, when the city of Eilat will host the first international competition in Israel in 12 years. The Israeli representatives, children and teenagers, were all born in Israel.
