Isreal withdrew their four-man bobsleigh team ahead of the final two Olympic runs on Sunday because it reportedly aimed to change a team member by faking an illness.
The Times of Israel said it was told by the nation's Olympic committee (OCI) "it disqualified the team from competing after one of its athletes lied to Olympic officials in order to allow their teammate, Ward Fawarseh, to compete in their stead."
Under competition rules a team member can only be exchanged if another is ill or injured. The OCI said that Uri Zisman went for a medical examination and also signed an affidavit so that alternate Fawarseh could take his place.
The report quoted the OCI as saying that Zisman later “admitted to the head of the delegation that he had acted improperly. This forced the Olympic Committee of Israel to withdraw the request and disqualify the move.”
The OCI said that the team’s behavior was “improper” and “goes against fair and sportsmanlike conduct.”
Pilot AJ Edelman confirmed the withdrawal on Instagram after the team had placed 24th on Saturday, without giving full details.
"Given that our placemetn going into the final run was all but predetermined, it was more important to us that our alternate could have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. The team moved to make the replacement," he said.
"But the circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the bar that allows a team to make a change, and we withdrew from the final run.
"While we are sorry that this will not end for all us us in the way we had hoped, we are proud of the history we made for Israel."