Israeli-Canadian billionaire businessman Sylvan Adams. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND \/ AFP) (Photo by ... [+]<\/span> EMMANUEL DUNAND\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n AFP via Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n
\u201cBefore I became some sort of a big shot owner of a professional cycling team I came into it as a participant,\u201d says Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, co-owner of the Israel Start-Up Nation team. <\/p> \n \n
\u201cI love training camp rides with the team. It\u2019s great to ride with the boys. It\u2019s rare for them to see a team owner riding alongside them.\u201d <\/p> \n
Team riders do not have to ease off to humor a wannabe; Adams has the sort of palmar\u00e8s<\/em>\u2014the French word used in cycling for racing victories\u2014to make any pro proud. For instance, the 62-year-old billionaire, who only took up cycling in his 40s, has two Masters World Championship titles. <\/p> \n
\u201cThe guys know that I understand a little bit about bike racing,\u201d he smiles. \u201cAnd, of course, none of them has a world championship jersey.\u201d <\/p> \n \n
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Sylvan Adams starting a training session in the \"Sylvan Adams National Velodrome\"\u2014note the stripes ... [+]<\/span> on his shorts and jersey, that denotes his world champion status. (Photo by JACK GUEZ \/ AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n AFP via Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n \n
Adams is the son of Quebec real-estate tycoon Marcel Adams, a Holocaust-era forced labor camp escapee who died at the age of 100 in August last year. <\/p> \n \n
When I put it to Adams that, because of his healthful cycling lifestyle, he too would likely live a long life, he quipped: <\/p> \n
\u201cThere\u2019s a Jewish proverb, \u2018May you live to 120,\u2019 so [even if I live ten years longer than my father] I\u2019ll still be ten years short of the [biblical] ideal.\u201d <\/p> \n \n
This blessing refers to the supposed Bronze Age lifespan of Moses. Still, cycling\u2019s health benefits are no myth\u2014Tour de France cyclists can live for an additional eight years, revealed research published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine<\/em>. Even just cycling to work can add years to your life\u2014a large five-year study of U.K. commuters, published in the British Medical Journal<\/em> in 2017, found regular cycling cut the risk of death from any cause by 41%. <\/p> \n
Pedal power <\/h3> \n
Adams\u2019 aptitude for going fast on a bike was discovered by Canadian sports scientist Paulo Saldanha, owner of PowerWatts, a Montreal training studio. Once an internationally ranked Ironman triathlete, Saldanha has coached Olympic-level athletes in several sports and is now Israel Start-Up Nation\u2019s performance director. <\/p> \n
\u201cSylvan, you\u2019re pretty good at this,\u201d Saldanha told newbie cyclist Adams, suggesting he start racing. <\/p> \n
\u201cI went to a local mid-week [velodrome] race and found I could keep up with the group,\u201d remembers Adams. <\/p> \n
\u201cA little later, I raced with some professionals; I survived, whereas others were getting shelled out of the back [of the pack].\u201d <\/p> \n
The newbie started on a long winning streak, notching up six Canadian Masters titles, four Pan American golds, four Maccabiah (Jewish \u201cOlympics\u201d) gold medals, and the all-important Masters World Championship titles, which entitles him to wear \u201crainbow stripes\u201d on his cycling kit for the rest of his life. <\/p> \n
\u201cI\u2019ve had some nice accomplishments,\u201d he says modestly. <\/p> \n
\u201cRacing has given me a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment.\u201d <\/p> \n
He also enjoys owning a team. The Israel Start-Up Nation competes at the UCI WorldTeam level with the best teams in the world at the world\u2019s best-known races. This doesn\u2019t come cheap. Adams won\u2019t reveal the team\u2019s budget\u2014\u201cthat\u2019s kind of a confidential subject,\u201d he says\u2014but he agreed with my cheeky question asking whether it might be half that of the \u20ac50.78 million spent in 2019 by Team Ineos Grenadiers, owned by the British chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.<\/p> \n
\u201cHalf is about right,\u201d he says. <\/p> \n
\u201cWe have an average WorldTour budget; we are not spending the kind of money that Jim Ratcliffe is putting [into cycling], but then nobody is.\u201d <\/p> \n \n
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Chris Froome at the stage two time trial at the 100th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2021, Banyoles, ... [+]<\/span> Spain. (Photo by David Ramos\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n
A fair chunk of Israel Start-Up Nation\u2019s budget is currently going on the wages and expenses of four-times Tour de France winner Chris Froome. The former Ineos Grenadiers rider (who won his yellow jerseys while riding for cycling\u2019s winningest team in its previous incarnation as Team Sky) is unlikely to finish first in any major stage races with Israel Start-Up Nation but signing him was still a coup for the fledgling team. <\/p> \n
Israel Start-Up Nation\u2019s co-owner is banking lawyer Ron Baron, founder of Livermore Investments Group, an investor in the U.S. credit market for senior secured bank loans. <\/p> \n
Baron and Adams share 50-50 ownership of the team\u2014which was founded as Israel Cycling Academy along with Israel\u2019s first professional bike racer, Ran Margaliot\u2014but it\u2019s Adams signing most of the checks. <\/p> \n \n
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An Israeli boy waves the Israeli flag after Beresheet spacecraft fails to land safely on the moon on ... [+]<\/span> April 11, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n
Adams signs lots of checks: besides cycling he backs a dizzying number of projects, including hospitals, medical scholarships and SpaceIL, a privately-funded moon mission which, in 2019, saw Israel attempt to become only the fourth country\u2014after the U.S., Russia, and China\u2014to complete a controlled lunar landing. <\/p> \n
As it was, Beresheet, the Israeli lander named after the Hebrew word for the first book of the Bible, crashed during its descent, smashing the craft\u2019s plaque sporting the slogan \u201cSmall country, big dreams.\u201d <\/p> \n \n
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Madonna at 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18, 2019 in Tel ... [+]<\/span> Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Michael Campanella\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n
Back on earth, and in the same year, Adams paid for Madonna to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Tel Aviv. <\/p> \n
The previous year he had funded the Sylvan Adams velodrome in Tel Aviv, the first indoor cycling track in the Middle East. <\/p> \n
He also paid for, and helped organize, the 2018 staging in Israel of the start of the Giro d\u2019Italia bicycle race, the first cycling \u201cGrand Tour\u201d to travel outside of Europe. <\/p> \n
Bike paths <\/h3> \n
Adams lives with his wife Margaret in a luxury apartment overlooking the Tel Aviv beachfront. The couple\u2014who met on a kibbutz in the 1980s and who, in 2016, signed up to the Giving Pledge, the philanthropic commitment created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to divest wealth\u2014moved to Israel full-time in 2015. <\/p> \n
A short distance from their apartment is a spur on to the Sylvan Adams Commuter Path, a putative bike path network that, should it ever be completed, aims to get Israelis out of cars and on to bikes. <\/p> \n
However, despite warm words from the powers-that-be at the inauguration of the first stretch five years ago, the network has stalled, which pains the seed funder. <\/p> \n
\u201cThe idea was to encourage people to leave their cars at home, get a bit of exercise, do something good for the environment, and get to destinations more quickly by bike than you would by car\u2014but the network is not being implemented,\u201d says Adams. <\/p> \n
\u201cFrankly, I\u2019m a little bit disappointed,\u201d he adds. <\/p> \n
\u201cI made the lead investment to show vision in the future. [City and national] government have got to finish what I started.\u201d <\/p> \n
Ambassador <\/h3> \n
Adams\u2019 father Marcel moved to Canada from Romania, changing his name from Abramovich and initially working in the leather industry before starting in real estate. He founded Iberville Developments in 1958. At its height, the property company owned and managed nearly 8 million square feet across 100 or so shopping centers, office spaces, industrial properties, and residential assets. <\/p> \n
Worth $1.5 billion at the time of his death, Adams Senior, like his son later, was a philanthropist. <\/p> \n
\u201cMy father wanted to die as a pauper,\u201d says Adams Junior. <\/p> \n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t quite achieve that, but he did divest himself of much of his wealth during his lifetime.\u201d <\/p> \n
Adams took over the family business in 1997. It\u2019s now run by his son, Josh, but it\u2019s much smaller than in its heyday. <\/p> \n
\u201cI downsized the company before I left,\u201d says Adams. <\/p> \n
\u201cWe sold off a whole bunch of real estate assets,\u201d says Adams. <\/p> \n
\u201cI am no longer involved.\u201d <\/p> \n
Instead, he is \u201cdevoting this chapter of my life to promoting Israel,\u201d and writing those checks. <\/p> \n \n
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Sylvan Adams and Chris Froome during the 3rd UAE Tour 2021, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ... [+]<\/span> (Photo by Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> \n <\/fbs-accordion> \n Getty Images<\/small> \n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure> \n
\u201cI am a self-appointed ambassador [for the country],\u201d he states. <\/p> \n
His role in promoting cycling at home and abroad and helping with moon shots aims to convince the world to accept Israel as a technological powerhouse and as a \u201cnormal, civilized nation.\u201d <\/p> \n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to spend my money on projects to promote my country,\u201d he stresses. And spend money on promoting bicycle racing and bicycling as transport, too. <\/p> \n
\u201cCycling is my favorite thing,\u201d he says. <\/p> \n
\u201cCan you tell?\u201d<\/p> \n<\/div>\r\n\r\nSource: https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/carltonreid\/2021\/04\/10\/billionaire-philanthropist-sylvan-adams-aims-for-the-moon-via-madonna-and-a-bicycle\/","post_title":"Billionaire Philanthropist Sylvan Adams Aims For The Moon Via Madonna And A Bicycle","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"billionaire-philanthropist-sylvan-adams-aims-for-the-moon-via-madonna-and-a-bicycle","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-10 15:00:31","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-10 22:00:31","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/ar.bitcoinethereumnews.com\/economy\/billionaire-philanthropist-sylvan-adams-aims-for-the-moon-via-madonna-and-a-bicycle\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"is_current_page_a_post":"1","disabled_on_posts":"","simple_banner_font_size":"","simple_banner_color":"","simple_banner_text_color":"","simple_banner_link_color":"","simple_banner_close_color":"","simple_banner_custom_css":"","simple_banner_scrolling_custom_css":"","simple_banner_text_custom_css":"","simple_banner_button_css":"","site_custom_css":"","keep_site_custom_css":"","site_custom_js":"","keep_site_custom_js":"","wp_body_open_enabled":"","wp_body_open":"1","close_button_enabled":"","close_button_expiration":"","close_button_cookie_set":""};