Calgary, Canada
Poised for an unprecedented inaugural season, the Israeli Bobsled Team is in third place after racing in the America’s Cup in Calgary, Canada, last week
Pilot Aaron Zeff and Brakeman John Frank took a fifth and sixth place finish in the 12-team Calgary races, and cracked the 57-second barrier with a 56.53-second down time. This record catapults them into the top teams on the racing circuit.
With one race to go, the Israelis are currently ranked third, with 56 points, in the cumulative standings for this year’s America’s Cup, comprising 14 teams.
“Were less concerned with rankings and more concerned with building upon our successes,” Zeff said. “Our goal is to continue to improve ourselves race after race and to complete the first season in the top 5 of the field.”
The Israelis proved they were a team to be reckoned with in Park City, Utah, last month. In their first complete international competition, they toppled experience teams that competed in the last two Winter Olympic Games.
The Americas Cup Races included 5 Canadian teams, 2 USA teams, 2 Mexican teams, and one from Armenia, Slovakia, Greece, New Zealand, and Israel.
The America’s Cup racing series concludes in Lake Placid, New York, in January.
Race photos and results available at www.israelibobsled.com.
Official News Releases from the IBSF and the Israeli National Bobsled and Skeleton Teams.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Monday, December 1, 2003
Israeli Bobsled Team No Joke!
Archived from Winnipeg Free Press
Hurtling down an ice-covered track at 100 km-h in a bobsled is a thrill.
Doing it for Israel at the Winter Olympics in Italy in 2006 - well, that's something else.
But that's the dream of Winnipeger David Greaves who, along with his two American teammates, is inching closer to that goal.
"It's pretty exhilarating," said Greaves.
Last month., their two-man bobsled completed a dozen runs at the Olympic training facility in Calgary.
They're hoping to eventually crack the top 30 in the world, which would help secure their Olympic bid.
But the sport takes a back seat to their feelings for Israel.
"It's more about our love for Israel and support of Israel," said Greaves, 36.
Greaves' partners are Aaron Zeff, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force, and John Frank, who collected a couple of Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers as a tight end.
The three men are in the process of getting their Israeli citizenships.
Frank and Zeff, who both live in San Francisco, had been talking for the last couple of years of competing in the bobsled for Israel
They were able to convince the Israeli Olympic Committee to create the Israeli Bobsled Federation.
Greaves became involved after an injury temporarily sidelined Zeff.
He took his first run in Calgary last December.
Hurtling down an ice-covered track at 100 km-h in a bobsled is a thrill.
Doing it for Israel at the Winter Olympics in Italy in 2006 - well, that's something else.
But that's the dream of Winnipeger David Greaves who, along with his two American teammates, is inching closer to that goal.
"It's pretty exhilarating," said Greaves.
Last month., their two-man bobsled completed a dozen runs at the Olympic training facility in Calgary.
They're hoping to eventually crack the top 30 in the world, which would help secure their Olympic bid.
But the sport takes a back seat to their feelings for Israel.
"It's more about our love for Israel and support of Israel," said Greaves, 36.
Greaves' partners are Aaron Zeff, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force, and John Frank, who collected a couple of Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers as a tight end.
The three men are in the process of getting their Israeli citizenships.
Frank and Zeff, who both live in San Francisco, had been talking for the last couple of years of competing in the bobsled for Israel
They were able to convince the Israeli Olympic Committee to create the Israeli Bobsled Federation.
Greaves became involved after an injury temporarily sidelined Zeff.
He took his first run in Calgary last December.
Israeli Bobsled Team Impresses in Canada
Archived from The Jerusalem Post
With Aaron Zeff at the helm and John Frank acting as pusher and brakeman, the Israeli bobsled team managed surprising fifth and sixth place finishes, in a twelve-team field, in two races at the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Toboganning America's Cup in Calgary, Canada, over the weekend. By cracking the 57-second barrier, they recorded a time that would place them in the top ten in the world.
In their second FIBT America's Cup race of the season, the Israeli bobsled team, comprised of Zeff and Frank (both from San Francisco, with dual Israeli-American citizenship), David Greaves, the alternate brakeman on the two-man racing team; and coach Ross Dominikovich, former captain of the New Zealand bobsled team, clearly demonstrated that it is among the world's elite.
In last week's event in Park City, Utah, which was their first complete international tourney as they competed in one America's Cup race last year but crashed out, the Israeli team managed to come in sixth out of eight teams, and beat a team from Greece that had participated in the last two Olympics.
The Israelis are currently third, with 56 points, in the cumulative standings for this year's America's Cup, comprising 14 teams.
In all, there were five teams from Canada taking part, three American squads, two from Mexico, and one each from Armenia, Slovakia, Greece, and Israel.
David Greaves, from Winnipeg in Canada and holding dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship and who took part in the first race of the season, told The Jerusalem Post, "I was honored to brake for Aaron [Zeff] in Israel's first race and to be crew support for our fifth-place, medal-winning event the next day. I think we shocked almost every nation there (except ourselves) and garnered some great respect for both our team and our coach. I should also say that this is as much about the sport as it is for us to reach out to the communities we train in and compete in."
They are hoping to eventually crack the top 30, which would help them secure a bid to the next Olympics in Turin, Italy.
With Aaron Zeff at the helm and John Frank acting as pusher and brakeman, the Israeli bobsled team managed surprising fifth and sixth place finishes, in a twelve-team field, in two races at the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Toboganning America's Cup in Calgary, Canada, over the weekend. By cracking the 57-second barrier, they recorded a time that would place them in the top ten in the world.
In their second FIBT America's Cup race of the season, the Israeli bobsled team, comprised of Zeff and Frank (both from San Francisco, with dual Israeli-American citizenship), David Greaves, the alternate brakeman on the two-man racing team; and coach Ross Dominikovich, former captain of the New Zealand bobsled team, clearly demonstrated that it is among the world's elite.
In last week's event in Park City, Utah, which was their first complete international tourney as they competed in one America's Cup race last year but crashed out, the Israeli team managed to come in sixth out of eight teams, and beat a team from Greece that had participated in the last two Olympics.
The Israelis are currently third, with 56 points, in the cumulative standings for this year's America's Cup, comprising 14 teams.
In all, there were five teams from Canada taking part, three American squads, two from Mexico, and one each from Armenia, Slovakia, Greece, and Israel.
David Greaves, from Winnipeg in Canada and holding dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship and who took part in the first race of the season, told The Jerusalem Post, "I was honored to brake for Aaron [Zeff] in Israel's first race and to be crew support for our fifth-place, medal-winning event the next day. I think we shocked almost every nation there (except ourselves) and garnered some great respect for both our team and our coach. I should also say that this is as much about the sport as it is for us to reach out to the communities we train in and compete in."
They are hoping to eventually crack the top 30, which would help them secure a bid to the next Olympics in Turin, Italy.
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