Lake Tahoe man's pursuit of Olympic history

South Shore resident Larry Sidney narrowly missed earning a spot on the historic Israeli Olympic Skeleton team headed to PyeongChang in February.

"It's amazingly exciting to be part of it," said Sidney on his return to Lake Tahoe after months of traveling the world and participating in skeleton races in pursuit of an Olympic spot.

Your geography is not wrong, it doesn't snow more than a few flakes in Israel each year, yet they are sending their first ever skeleton team to the Olympic games in South Korea in February. Prior to 2018, Israel has had 22 athletes in the winter games, all in the sports of figure skating, alpine skiing and short track speed skating. But never before in skeleton.

Enthusiasm for bobsledding and skeleton started to grow in 2002 when the country had a bobsled team comprised of former San Francisco 49ers 2x Super Bowl Champion John Frank, ex-U.S. fighter pilot Aaron Michael Zeff, then Israeli Flag Football and Rugby Player Moshe 'Mo' Horowitz, with now seasoned Jewish Communal Professional and President of Bobsled/Skeleton Israel (BSI), David Greaves. The team represented Israel in the World Championships in the sport, something no one thought it was possible.

The expenses associated with bobsledding are high due to the cost of the sled and costs of shipping it to competitions, and the team disbanded, but passion for sliding on ice did not.

The Israel Bobsled and Skeleton Federation was formed in 2003, and even though the bobsledding part of the group ended in 2006, skeleton racing is alive and well. Graeves kept the Federation going and built up a four-man skeleton team.

Enter Larry Sidney, Adam A.J. Edelman, Brad Chalupski and Joel Seligstein who together have made up the Israel Skeleton Team since the winter of 2015/2016. They have trained and competed across the world, showing the Israel Olympic Team that they were worthy of representing the country in international competitions, including the Olympics.

Edelman will be the country's representative in the 2018 Olympics, finishing the year's races with more points than the other three on the team, and ending ranked as #85 in the world. Sidney wasn't far behind and is an alternate to the team. Only ten skeleton teams make it to the Olympics, and for Israel to be one of those was a major accomplishment.

Sidney, though born in Connecticut, and now a South Shore resident, is able to be on the Israeli team due to his being Jewish, allowing him to get citizenship.

Always an athlete, the 45-year-old Sidney played football, track and was on the ski team during his college years, and has coached soccer and track.

Racing down a frozen track while lying face down and head first, experiencing forces up to 5G and reaching speeds over 80 mph may not be for everyone. Once Sidney, and brother Ray (also a Lake Tahoe resident) saw skeleton at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, they couldn't wait to try it.

"I just really loved it," said Larry.

For ten months a year, Larry has been traveling between Calgary, Whistler, Lake Placid, France and Park City, all for perfecting his sport and competing.

“We haven’t had any funding from the Israeli federation, no Olympic funding,” said Sidney. "They said they’d start funding if we made it to Olympics.”

Now there will be a whole nation rooting on their first skeleton team.

If Larry isn't needed to represent Israel in February, he said he has raced his last race and is retiring from the sport, but he will be in PyeongChang to root on Edelman. There will be nine other Israelis headed to the 2018 Olympics, their biggest winter contingent yet.

He and wife Kerstin are parents to 10-month-old Lucas, and even though the family has traveled with Larry, he said it's time for Lucas to be at home for awhile. For the next couple of months, he'll be working on his designer curling shirt business Hurry Hard Elite Apparel.

Don't expect Larry to stay still long though as he returns to curling.

He was actually involved with curling first, and was on the Israeli Curling team and in 2015 his team made it to the World Championships in Switzerland. All three members of the team not only lived in different towns, but in different countries which made practicing tough. They had one weekend together to practice before the championships.

"We were competitive and had a great time," said Sidney.

He was competing in both skeleton and curling.

"I was more competitive in curling but saw opportunity and felt time-wise the chance to do skeleton was more immediate," said Sidney. "It was the right time and the right choice."

Now he is eyeing the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. "I'd love to go there curling wise," he said.

"Curling is going into metamorphosis," said Larry. "It's getting more athletic, fitness-oriented and not so much the bowling atmosphere and drinking beers."

Curling is something he can do in South Lake Tahoe. Larry and his brother Ray started Lake Tahoe Epic Curling, and their Sunday leagues at the SLT Ice Arena are very popular. After the 2014 Olympics they saw a big increase in participants, and they can expect the same thing this time.

For those who want to get ahead of the game, Epic Curling is holding a "Learn to Curl" at the arena on January 28 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Cost is only $20 and more information can be found here: http://www.laketahoecurling.com.