Sylvan Adams, who played an influential role in the growth of Israeli competitive cycling, is an Israeli-Canadian billionaire and philanthropist who triumphed in the sport’s 65–69 age division.
Adams, who runs the Israel-Premier Tech Cycling Team, won the Masters 65–69 age division on Friday at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland.
Adams, who will turn 65 in November, also won his age division on Monday in the championship’s individual time trial. Adams, who only started cycling in his 40s, has previously won a number of international contests, including the 2017 World Championship in Manchester, England, which was organized by the UCI, the main organization in charge of managing international cycling competitions.
He claimed that the fact that it is his first world title as an Israeli cyclist makes his most recent triumph all the more significant. He has already represented Canada in competition.
Adams remarked after winning the title, “I’m very happy my hard training paid off and proud to have won this world title for Israel,” according to a press statement. “As they played Hatikva, our national anthem, I sang along with emotion; my eyes were wet.
The former real estate executive, who has lived in Israel since 2015, has been a major supporter and financier of cycling there. Adams provided money to fund the establishment of the Sylvan Adams Cycling Network, the nation’s first cycling institute, at Tel Aviv University in 2017.
In Tel Aviv in 2018, Adams built the region’s first velodrome, or track cycling arena. The 2018 Giro d’Italia opening stage was hosted in Israel for the first time outside of Europe, thanks in part to an $80 million donation from him. Adams was the son of Marcel Adams (formerly Abramovich), a Romanian Holocaust survivor who later rose to prominence in Canada’s real estate industry as a billionaire. The senior Adams passed away in 2020 at the age of 100.
In addition to cycling, Adams and his family foundation have contributed to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, SpaceIL, a nonprofit space enterprise in Israel, and a number of Israeli medical facilities. Additionally, he contributed to Madonna’s attendance at Israel’s 2019 hosting of the Eurovision song contest.
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