Despite coming in last at the Winter Olympics, Israel’s first-ever bobsled team is delighted. Arriving in 26th place means they missed the 20th-place cutoff to advance to the next heat — but to have come this far feels like a victory, says the team’s leader, AJ Edelman.

“What we accomplished today, some kid is going to see in 10, 15, 20 years, and he’s going to be inspired by that to do his own journey,” Edelman said.

“We’re very proud, we’re moving forward to the four-man event,” he added, referring to the next event for the four-person team; the previous races involved two-person teams, which included his brakeman Menachem Chen.

“Israel is in the Olympics, baby!” he crowed. “We did something unbelievable in this sport, to do it by ourselves, piecing it together. People might not realize how amazing this accomplishment is for this country.”

Edelman is excited to advance to the four-man race and proud of what he and his team accomplished. Israel’s first skeleton athlete to compete in the Olympics in 2018, Edelman dreamed of building the first Israeli bobsled team — and he did it, in the face of enormous difficulties.

He had to cull athletes from all walks of sports: Chen was a discus thrower, Uri Zisman a pole vaulter, Omer Katz a sprinter and Ward Fawarseh a rugby player. In another first, Fawarseh became Israel’s first Druze to compete in the Olympics.

In addition, practices were missed because reserve duty pulled teammates away from training. The team also missed a crucial few pre-Olympic trainings due to security concerns. What’s more, they almost didn’t qualify, but then a spot opened up at the last minute. So making it this far felt like a dream come true. And now, Edelman said, an Israeli bobsled team is a thing, even if his team didn’t win.

“We always want to be the first but not the last,” he said. “I was very sure that, if we didn’t get it done, there would never be an Israeli bobsleigh team in the Games, because no one was going to fight for that. Now we’ve set a precedent. Others can come after us.”

Chen said he believes the team has a better chance at the four-man race because they trained hardest for that.

“Today we had some difficulties, but every day we shave off almost a second from the previous day’s time,” he said. “I’m positive that in the four-man we’ll have much better results.”

The team faced a fair bit of anti-Jewish hatred, par for the course for Jews and Israelis in entertainment. Protests in Milan, where the Games were held, at one point turned violent, and a sportscaster suggested that the openly Zionist Edelman be canceled because of his “support of the genocide in Gaza.”

Edelman made light of the remarks, saying it was “such a sad thing to do.”

“No one is going to remember that,” he added.

“One of the most amazing things about representing Israel is, you know in your heart that it’s the greatest country in the entire world,” he said. “Representing a country for 12 years — I get out of bed to do this, because it’s such an amazing place to represent … I live a very blessed life. I get to compete with the flag on my chest.”

After what he considered his win, Edelman posted about his gratitude on X.

“Words cannot express my gratitude and pride to my team, People, and country,” he wrote.

“Tonight represented the closing of a chapter for me and the beginning of a new one for Israel,” he added. “The race may have been my last in the 2man discipline, but it will not be Israel’s last. Shul Runnings has set the table for continued success. We now move to the team’s signature discipline–the 100m of the Winter Games–the 4 man.”

“We are absolutely going to bring it,” he continued. “Thank you so much for your support. We feel it. I feel it. It is truly an honor unparalleled. We are proud to represent you.”

“On to the next,” he concluded, signing off with an Israeli flag emoji.