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Author Topic: Ask AJ Edelman Anything: DDF Member And Member Of The 2018 Israel Olympic Team!  (Read 77428 times)

Offline mercaz1

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if you ask George costanza he might bet able to get them to switch to cotton uniforms.

Offline Dan

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What time is your event scheduled for?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline hgeek23

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    • Israel Olympian AJ Edelman / Israel Bobsled BobTeam Edelman
  • Location: A bobsled track going 90mph, or in a plane doing 500.
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What time is your event scheduled for?
Hey @Dan it's February 15/16. My events bh are morning, no shabbos conflicts.
TV schedule for NBC: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2018/01/22/2018-winter-olympic-games-listings/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I am the men's Skeleton event.

Offline hgeek23

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    • Israel Olympian AJ Edelman / Israel Bobsled BobTeam Edelman
  • Location: A bobsled track going 90mph, or in a plane doing 500.
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if you ask George costanza he might bet able to get them to switch to cotton uniforms.
I believe George's jacket was down. :)

Offline noturbizniss

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Hey @Dan it's February 15/16. My events bh are morning, no shabbos conflicts.
TV schedule for NBC: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2018/01/22/2018-winter-olympic-games-listings/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I am the men's Skeleton event.
any idea what time your event is? NBC's schedule has the (qualifying round ?) as 8-11pm on 2/14 and gold medal at 8-1230am on 2/15

Out of curiosity (and no disrespect meant at all!) how do your times compare to the best in the world currently/world records?
READ THE DARN WIKI!!!!

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Offline noturbizniss

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http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/254220/a-j-edelman-goes-for-gold

@mods @hgeek23 perhaps a change of thread title is in order so that it properly reflects the current situation of actual participation vs still fundraising?
READ THE DARN WIKI!!!!

Chuck Norris...
...can still do FT method
...READS THE WIKI!!!

Offline hgeek23

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Competing in the Olympics
« Reply #46 on: January 30, 2018, 11:20:15 AM »
any idea what time your event is? NBC's schedule has the (qualifying round ?) as 8-11pm on 2/14 and gold medal at 8-1230am on 2/15

Out of curiosity (and no disrespect meant at all!) how do your times compare to the best in the world currently/world records?
No offense taken. Skeleton is 4 heats over 2 days. 2 heats per day. Top 20 are allowed to complete the second heat of day 2.
In terms of times, Skeleton is one of the hardest sports in the Olympics to Qualify for as it is limited to 30 Athletes of about 16 Nations. In 4 years with no coach and no funding whatsoever from the Israeli govt (hence unable to afford a coach), we've qualified. We are not in medal position. About a couple seconds back per run. Most of this is due to the sprinting start, as I am a terrific driver, but not a good sprinter. However, we are the only one at these games to have qualified in 4 years with no coaching, and no support, a task said to be impossible for us a few years ago. The qualification itself was a massive achievement, as we bested 14 other nations in rank to gain our spot. I'll be looking to beat a few more Nations in the games but we are not medal contenders (it will go Korea, Latvia, Germany likely, in that order).

Offline hgeek23

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http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/254220/a-j-edelman-goes-for-gold

@mods @hgeek23 perhaps a change of thread title is in order so that it properly reflects the current situation of actual participation vs still fundraising?

I have no power to change the title :(

Offline ShlockDoc

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Re: Competing in the Olympics
« Reply #48 on: January 30, 2018, 11:31:26 AM »
No offense taken. Skeleton is 4 heats over 2 days. 2 heats per day. Top 20 are allowed to complete the second heat of day 2.
In terms of times, Skeleton is one of the hardest sports in the Olympics to Qualify for as it is limited to 30 Athletes of about 16 Nations. In 4 years with no coach and no funding whatsoever from the Israeli govt (hence unable to afford a coach), we've qualified. We are not in medal position. About a couple seconds back per run. Most of this is due to the sprinting start, as I am a terrific driver, but not a good sprinter. However, we are the only one at these games to have qualified in 4 years with no coaching, and no support, a task said to be impossible for us a few years ago. The qualification itself was a massive achievement, as we bested 14 other nations in rank to gain our spot. I'll be looking to beat a few more Nations in the games but we are not medal contenders (it will go Korea, Latvia, Germany likely, in that order).

Amazing accomplishment!  When you say "we" do you mean that all 10 of the Israeli athletes are in the same situation, not receiving support?  Does the Israeli OC only support summer olympians? 
« Last Edit: January 30, 2018, 11:35:05 AM by ShlockDoc »

Offline hgeek23

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Re: Competing in the Olympics
« Reply #49 on: January 30, 2018, 11:56:21 AM »
Amazing accomplishment!  When you say "we" do you mean that all 10 of the Israeli athletes are in the same situation, not receiving support?  Does the Israeli OC only support summer olympians?
I believe they receive a measure of funding, I'm not sure how much. It would be different for each athlete based on results or olympics appearances, and obviously figure skating has a budget as a program in general, whereby skeleton does not receive a budget.
By "we" I meant that I owe Israel everything, and act on behalf of the country and people. And so I refer to the accomplishment as Israel's, not my own.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2018, 12:01:08 PM by hgeek23 »

Offline hgeek23

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@Dan @mods can we change the title or potentially we could do a kind of dansdeals AMA thread

Offline henche

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Is the video in the OP yourself doing the track? Which track is that.

Offline hgeek23

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Is the video in the OP yourself doing the track? Which track is that.
I'm in a number of tracks on that first video. But the helmet of Star wars, that's Allen Blackwell of the USA in Innsbruck. The video is so old I shudder at how bad I was. Painful years those were, the first two.

Offline noturbizniss

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How do you train on/for the olympic track? I assume every track is different and you can't just go down it for the first time at the heat.
READ THE DARN WIKI!!!!

Chuck Norris...
...can still do FT method
...READS THE WIKI!!!

Offline hgeek23

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How do you train on/for the olympic track? I assume every track is different and you can't just go down it for the first time at the heat.
This is why the Korean will win gold, a Canadian won gold in Vancouver, USA won gold in salt lake. I get to go 10 runs before race day. The Korean will have hundreds.
It's also why not having a coach is such an issue, the other teams will have a support staff of many people, videoing and providing real time input on how to drive the track (we steer or we die, it's hard to see but we do a lot of steering). I'll have to learn it on the fly. But that's why we've made the games--its always been a trial by fire, do or die issue. Be good or go home.

Offline tageed-lee

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Congrats!! Very very cool!! This is a huge accomplishment and im sure you will make everyone proud!

I am curious what it would take to step up your "sprinting" game?

I am sure you've spend loads and loads of time practicing, so what are you missing?

Does watching footage of others help?

Thanks and good luck!!

ETA:


That is so crazy! Like home field advantage big time....  :(

Offline hgeek23

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Congrats!! Very very cool!! This is a huge accomplishment and im sure you will make everyone proud!

I am curious what it would take to step up your "sprinting" game?

I am sure you've spend loads and loads of time practicing, so what are you missing?

Does watching footage of others help?

Thanks and good luck!!
Thanks for the well wishes. I'm going to make an AMA after this one I think.
I came from ice hockey. Hard as it is to think about, running and sprinting are two acquired skills over years. If you don't do track and field you likely don't know how to Sprint. I'm the same way. I've worked over 4 years to bring my 30m Sprint time down by over a half second. It takes years of practice under good coaches and weightlifting programs. The weightlifting has never been my problem but the technique of sprinting has. So repeated work under a real good Sprint coach helps. Of the 3 off-seasons I've had to work on sprinting, most coaches couldn't handle someone my age who didn't have proper mechanics. As such they couldn't rectify the base issues, instead only treating the low hanging fruit. Now that I know the ropes if I had another 4 years I could bring it to a top contender level. But such is life. Hashem has a plan, this is how it's worked out, and I'm happy he's helped me get this far.
One tenth deficit on the Sprint is worth 3 tenths of driving. So I had to learn quickly how to drive better than others.

Offline hgeek23

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Ah! The title's been changed haha. Thanks @Dan

Offline skyguy918

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This is why the Korean will win gold, a Canadian won gold in Vancouver, USA won gold in salt lake. I get to go 10 runs before race day. The Korean will have hundreds.
Wow. That's pretty crazy. And I see a Russian won gold in Russia too (before having it vacated).

Seems like the Latvian dude was dominant, but hasn't struck Olympic gold because the home field advantage seems to put the local contender over the top every time. Though the Korean is in first place for this years World Cup, so not sure how much home field advantage he'd need anyway.

Offline Yordai Dooma

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This is so cool! congrats @hgeek23
make us all proud to know you...as DDFers, oh- and as jews.

any idea what time your event is? NBC's schedule has the (qualifying round ?) as 8-11pm on 2/14 and gold medal at 8-1230am on 2/15

the way i read the schedule, will it be 8pm EST on both 2/14 and 2/15?