A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has addressed the much-talked-about situation involving Israeli bobsleigh captain Adam Edelman and Swiss commentator Stefan Renna.On Monday, Edelman was taking part in the two-man bobsleigh event at the Egenio Monti Centre in Cortina when Renna questioned the IOC’s decision to greenlight his inclusion in this year’s i.As Edelman pushed off the start line, Renna began discussing the Israeli athlete and his public position on social media. “Israeli Adam Edelman. Who has described himself as a ‘Zionist to the core’,’ Renna began.
“I quote him, who has posted several messages on social media in favour of the genocide in Gaza.”We remind you that ‘genocide’ is a term used by the UN commission of inquiry on the region. Edelman, who notably said of the Israeli military intervention that it was, again, I quote, ‘the most morally just war in history.’He also mocked a ‘Free Palestine’ inscription on a wall in Lillehammer on the sidelines of a World Cup stage. And he asked his followers to send strength to Ward Fawardseh, when this member of the Israeli team, who is present here in Cortina, was engaged in an Israeli army operation in the Gaza Strip in 2023.”Renna questioned whether the athlete should be taking part in this edition of the Games, and mentioned Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Milan-Cortina Games for refusing to compete without a helmet featuring images of people killed following Russia’s invasion.