Getting to the Olympics involves years of intensive training, dedication, and physical strength. For some, it also entails hours spent watching YouTube videos.

Adam Edelman, a 27-year-old from Boston, Massachusetts, will represent Israel’s team in skeleton sledding at 2018 Winter Olympics. He taught himself this dangerous sport by watching a bunch of YouTube videos.

Having grown up Jewish with a yeshiva (Orthodox Jewish) education, Edelman played hockey for most of his life, starting when he was three years old. He identifies as a Zionist and immigrated to Israel as an adult, where he joined the skeleton sledding team. He only learned that this team existed in 2013.

“Four years ago, I thought about how I could help Israel in sports,” Edelman told Haaretz. “And then I saw this crazy sport on television with skeleton sleds. I thought that if this is such a crazy sport, Israelis can look at it and think,...