‘I have chills just thinking about it’

MILAN — You’ll likely remember the Jamaican bobsled team that dropped jaws and turned heads at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, eventually inspiring the movie Cool Runnings.

Well, there may be a new contender for a Hollywood sequel at the Milan Cortina Games here in Italy — and, go figure, a Winnipegger is front and centre. He’s even got a title picked out, just in case.

David Greaves, executive director of the Jewish National Fund of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, is also president of the Israeli Olympic Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation. And for the first time, Israel has defied long odds and qualified a team to compete in Olympic bobsled.

“The Yiddish word for synagogue is shul. So this is becoming the ‘Shul Runnings,’” Greaves told the Free Press on Friday with a hearty laugh.

“Every Jew who sees that will get a kick out of it. That’s actually become the tag, the moniker.”

Greaves, 56, is a former bobsledder himself. He never realized his Olympic dream but competed extensively on the international circuit, including at two world championships. The Israeli team he helped establish in 2002 — the first to represent the country — earned the nickname the “Frozen Chosen.”

It also inspired him to become an Israeli citizen while still living in Winnipeg.

Now, 24 years later, the program has advanced far enough that four sledders will proudly wear the Star of David on the Olympic stage. Greaves has been instrumental, securing critical funding, infrastructure and support, while also serving as an advocate for bobsled and skeleton athletes with the Israeli Olympic Committee.

“I have chills just thinking about it,” said Greaves.

“To think back to this pilot light that was inside of me, which grew into this thing and actually changed the trajectory of my life. It’s just incredible.”

Because of his role, Greaves was able to walk with the Israeli delegation during Friday’s opening ceremonies, which were spread across four regions of Italy. He is based in the mountain region of Cortina. A total of nine athletes are representing the nation, including a skeleton competitor, two alpine skiers, a cross-country skier and a figure skater.

“Just to have the Israeli flag flying amongst all the other countries that are going to be at this venue, there is a great deal of pride in that,” said Greaves.

The team is led by pilot AJ Edelman and includes Menachem Chen, Ward Fawarseh and Omer Katz. It looked like they were going to just miss the cut following qualifying in Lake Placid, but got in when the UK elected to only send one team after qualifying two. That opened the door.

“A historic achievement,” is how the Israeli Olympic Committee described it.

“Dreams do come true,” Edelman wrote on an Instagram post. He thanked all supporters and concluded with, “Let’s go make some more history.”

Edelman has already done that once. He qualified for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang in the skeleton event, becoming the first Israeli to do so. He finished 28th of 30.

“He ended up going to Yale after the Olympics and completing an MBA. So a very smart guy. But he just wasn’t ready to retire,” said Greaves.

“He always had this desire to build a bobsled team, so he tried and got into it. Within a couple years it was evident he could be a good driver. And now here we are. It’s a culmination. It’s a full circle moment. It’s a lot of things.”

Support has poured in from far and wide, including back home in Winnipeg, where Greaves has made a lasting impact through his work with the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and the Jewish Foundation.

“You know, it’s been a tough, tough few years,” said Greaves.

“We’re trying to be this beacon of hope, this beacon of shared values. Never mind the Jewish story, but why can’t a team from a sliver of land in the Middle East be at the Olympic games?”

There was a time Greaves wished he was the one climbing into the sled and launching down the track at breakneck speed. Not anymore.

“People ask me if I was scared the first time. I wasn’t. I just did it. But the first time I ever got in the sled we crashed. So I wasn’t scared the first time, but I was terrified after,” he said.

“Now, I’m just as happy watching someone else get to do that and enjoy the Olympic spirit and be in more of a supportive role.”

Greaves has no issue with comparisons to the Jamaican bobsled team. In fact, he said many nations — including Israel — owe them a debt of gratitude.

“They really popularized the sport,” he said. “And if it wasn’t for them, countries like Israel or Australia or Bahamas or Iran that are competing now, that are here, it likely wouldn’t have happened because no one was thinking that. It really paved the way for us to say we could do this too.”

Greaves has actually become friends with the pilot of that Jamaican team, Chris Stokes, who ultimately wrote the book which led to the movie.

“He and his brothers and the others in the sled turned this into what it is today,” he said.

So what are the expectations for Israel? Simply getting to this stage is already a victory. As Greaves noted, the team beat out several nations with deeper budgets and longer histories just to qualify.

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, we made it,’” he said. “It’s, look at all the countries that didn’t. As we’re here celebrating, there are many more that are disappointed after committing the same time, finances, blood, sweat and tears.”

That said, he’s realistic about the challenge ahead.

“We know who we’re competing against,” he said. “There would have to be like 20 something sleds we have to have an upset over. But we have objectives. We believe our athletes will probably catch a handful of people in front of them. And personal bests, right?”

The men’s bobsled event will be held on the final weekend of competition, while the skeleton begins next week.

“It’s just an amazing thing. The journey is so much,” said Greaves.

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