Conservative activists tore photos of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un and attempted to burn its national flag in demonstrations here on Saturday against Pyongyang's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
A flurry of demonstrations took place on the streets as Kim's sister and other high-ranking officials visited the presidential office and North Korean art troupe Samjiyon Orchestra arrived in Seoul to perform on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported.
Some 800 anti-North Korean protesters marched and staged street performances in front of the Deoksu Palace in central Seoul, condemning the North Korean leader and President Moon Jae-in, who they regard as too soft on the North.
Photos of Kim Jong-un and North Korea's national flags were seen damaged and in tatters.
Some were holding up a ripped-up "Korean Unification" flag, which was used when athletes from South and North Korea made a joint entrance at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics on Friday night.
Some people tried to burn the North Korean national flag, but were contained by police.
"You are fired. Get out of here Korea," one protester, wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump, shouted at a protester wearing a mask of the South Korean President.
Three people playing the roles of President Moon, the North Korean leader and Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state, respectively, walked in silence, tied to each other by a rope.
Similar demonstrations took place sporadically around the city.
The protests took place as Kim Jong-un, in a message delivered by his sister Kim Yo-jong, invited Moon to Pyongyang at the "earliest date" possible for what will be a third inter-Korean summit.
source: news agency
PYEONGCHANG: Russia’s team for the Pyeongchang Olympics could be as formidable as previous ones even though the government says it was decimated by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to bar man of its medal hopefuls.
Data compiled by Reuters suggests that, at least on paper, the team for this month’s Winter Olympic Games is as strong as past ones even without notable contenders such as excluded short track speed skater Viktor Ahn, a six-time Olympic gold medalist.
The IOC banned Russia from the Games over a doping scandal. All but one of the 169 athletes that were cleared to compete are taking part in Pyeongchang as neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia.
A further 47 banned coaches and athletes, including Ahn, had appealed the IOC decision but on Friday their appeals were dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Nevertheless, fourteen of the athletes taking part are medal winners at the most recent world championships in their respective disciplines. That includes two golds, individually or in relay and team pursuits events.
The Russian team at the 2010 Vancouver Games had 179 members, according to the IOC. These athletes had won 13 world championship medals heading into those Games, including three golds. At Vancouver they came away with three gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.
“I think it’s a fair comparison,” said Brian Cazeneuve, who makes Olympic podium predictions for Sports Illustrated magazine.
“Given that those (the Vancouver Games) were not perceived as being very successful Olympics for them, it gives you an idea of what they will be expected to do now.”
Wins at previous world championships or Olympics offer no safeguard against upsets and injuries that influence performance.
But the presence of several world championship and Olympic medalists suggests that some will end up on the podium.
The Russians competing in Pyeongchang won seven medals at the previous games in 2014 in the southern Russian city of Sochi, including four golds. The Russians who competed in Vancouver won eight medals at the 2006 Turin Olympics, including three golds.
The Reuters examination of Russia’s 2018 Olympians’ results did not focus on the Sochi Games, over which Russia has faced allegations of orchestrating one of the biggest doping cover up schemes in sport.
At those Games, Russia had a team of 225 athletes, according to the IOC. Given that this number is more than the country would have sent to an Olympics abroad, and home teams tend to do well, the success Russia has had at those Games cannot easily be compared to that at other Olympics.
“Home teams always tend to do a little bit better. You’re still going to get more, for instance, South Korean medalists probably this time than you would another time for obvious reasons: home eating, home training, familiarity with the venues and so forth,” said Cazeneuve.
Russia won 33 medals, including 13 golds, in Sochi. Then the IOC stripped Russia of 13 medals, including four golds.
CAS last week reinstated the results of 28 athletes who had appealed the IOC’s decision. CAS also overturned their lifetime bans although they were still not invited to compete in Pyeongchang by the IOC.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the ruling.
“It confirms our position on the fact that the vast majority of our athletes are clean,” he told reporters on Feb 1.
Putin added that Russia still needed to continue its fight against doping along with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Russia has vehemently denied the existence of a state-sponsored doping program in the country, as revealed in WADA-commissioned reports.
Reuters also excluded hockey and curling from the calculation. The comparison in team sports is less exact because some members might have won medals in previous competitions but others may not.
BAFFLED
The IOC banned Russia over what it called the “systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping testing system at the 2014 Sochi Games.
It left the door open for athletes without a history of doping to compete at its invitation without the Russian tricolor, national emblems or anthem. Last month it released a list of 17 factors that were used to determine which Russians would be invited to the Games.
The selection of some and the exclusion of others has left athletes and some international sports bodies baffled as to how the IOC compiled the list.
Speaking to reporters last month, short track speed skater Sofia Prosvirnova said the invitation process had been “a lottery” while former National Hockey League (NHL) player Ilya Kovalchuk said the exclusion of some athletes had been “completely unfair.”
International sports organizations say the IOC selection criteria should have been made public sooner than they were.
“The disappointment for us is that it is not transparent,” Graeme Steel, chief executive of iNADO, an umbrella group that includes the world’s leading anti-doping agencies, told Reuters.
“We can’t see what has enabled those athletes to demonstrate that they are clean. As it stands at the moment, we can’t verify how they’ve gotten there.”
The IOC did not answer questions about criticism of the selection process.
It said in a statement to Reuters: “The result came after intensive weeks of work by the Independent Invitation Review Panel members, in which they went into detailed consideration of each individual athlete.”
Russian officials are upset that Ahn, biathlete Anton Shipulin and other top competitors have been excluded and their appeals rejected. It will not have enough athletes for relays in certain events.
Speed skater Olga Graf, who won two bronze in Sochi, said last month that she had turned down the IOC invitation to compete. She was the only Russian athlete to reject the IOC invitation.
Graf said the exclusion of several team mates would prevent Olympic Athletes from Russia from contending for a medal in the team pursuit event.
Cazeneuve initially projected Russia would win two gold medals in Pyeongchang, close to the three in Vancouver.
He projected Russia’s teenage figure skater Alina Zagitova and speed skater Denis Yuskov would win gold. But Yuskov was not invited by the IOC and CAS on Thursday determined its ad hoc division in Pyeongchang lacked jurisdiction to deal with the case.
“The result is bizarre: a delegation of ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ little different in number than recent Russian Winter Olympic Teams,” said Joseph de Pencier, the former CEO of iNADO who continues to work in anti-doping.
source: news agency
LONDON: Harry Kane’s 101st Premier League goal was the difference as Tottenham Hotspur earned a 1-0 win over Arsenal, to continue their fine recent form in north London derbies in front of a Premier League record crowd at Wembley on Saturday.
Both teams struggled to get going in the first half, but the contest burst into life straight after the interval, with Kane heading in his seventh goal in seven matches against Arsenal to break the deadlock in the 49th minute.
Arsenal almost snatched a point at the death, but substitute Alexandre Lacazette fired wide, and in truth, the margin of victory should have been greater, as Spurs wasted several chances to double their advantage in front of a crowd of 83,222.
None the less, the hosts hung on for the victory that enables them to leapfrog both Liverpool and Chelsea -- who do not play until Sunday and Monday respectively -- into third place, seven points clear of sixth-placed Arsenal, who have now beaten Spurs just once in eight league games.
source: news agency
American skier Lindsey Vonn burst into tears during her arrival press conference at the Winter Olympics on Friday when asked about the passing of her grandfather.
Vonn’s 88-year-old grandfather Don Kildow passed away last month and the skier has spoken several times of his importance in her life.
Kildow served in the U.S. military in Korea during the war in the country in the 1950s.
Asked by a reporter how his memory resonated with her now she was in Korea, Vonn said: ”It’s really hard. I wish you hadn’t said it. It’s really hard for me not to cry.
“I want so badly to do well for him. I miss him so much, he has been such a big part of my life and I really had hoped that he would be alive to see me,” she said in tears after pausing.
“But I know that he is going to help me and I am going to win for him.”
Vonn, who is the most successful woman skier on the World Cup circuit with 81 career victories, is looking to repeat her downhill gold from Vancouver in 2010 after missing out in Sochi four years ago due to injury.
source: news agency
PYEONGCHANG: At an Olympic dinner reception designed to break the ice between two nations still technically at war, the dessert said it all.
Dark chocolate tempered in the shape of barbed wire lay over a map of the Korean peninsula rendered in thin blue chocolate, a representation of the heavily militarised border that separates Games host South Korea and its old enemy in the North.
The guests, including leaders of North and South, were invited to pour melted white chocolate on top - and the barbed wire would dissolve.
The dessert, called “A Plate of Hope”, was what South Korean President Moon Jae-in planned to serve his dozen VIP guests, which were to include U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics’ pre-opening party on Friday.
But Pence had other ideas.
He left the reception after just a few minutes, skipping the hopeful dessert and a potentially awkward encounter with North Korea’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam.
“South Korea has some difficult homework to solve regarding some countries,” Moon told the gathering of some 200 VIPs at the reception before Pence arrived.
“There are some who would not want to be in the same room together if it wasn’t for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. But what is more important than anything is that we are together.”
Pence arrived at the reception late and had planned to leave directly after a photo session but Moon asked him to “come and say hello to friends”, Moon’s presidential spokesman said.
Pence came to the table and shook hands with all of the VIPs on the head table except Kim Yong Nam, and left the reception five minutes later. Unlike Pence, fellow attendee Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did shake hands with Kim Yong Nam, the South’s presidential Blue House said.
Pence’s absence undid some careful organising, according to a seating diagram provided by a South Korean government source and protocol experts.
The early plan showed Pence, with his wife to the left and Moon to his right, seated across the round table from Kim, who was nestled between U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach’s wife.
Abe, also a staunch critic of the North Korean regime, was to sit opposite Moon, between Guterres and Han Zheng, a member of China’s Politburo Standing Committee. Other guests at the top table included Moon’s wife, and the German president and his wife.
“The seating arrangement shows traces of the organisers’ agony,” said a former South Korean chief of protocol who reviewed the early draft of the seating arrangement.
In a such a setting, the host nation would usually arrange seating by the alphabetical order of country names or the length of terms the guests had served, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The work-around showed the host had adopted the principle that “no one should be uncomfortable with the person sitting next to them”, with those from international organisations playing a buffer role, the official said.
As it was, the two spaces set aside for Pence and his wife were left empty and seats for others were shuffled to more closely match normal protocols.
A source in the Moon administration said Pence’s absence at the reception was a “mere bump” in an otherwise successful diplomatic event.
source: news agency
PYEONGCHANG: The Winter Olympics sparked to life in a vivid, colorful ceremony of fire and ice in South Korea on Friday, though the diplomacy was tougher to choreograph in the stadium where leaders from nations that are sworn enemies sat close together.
South Korea, which is using the Pyeongchang Games to break the ice with North Korea, seated its presidential couple alongside U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, with two of the North’s most senior officials sitting in the row behind.
President Moon Jae-in, who wants to harness the Olympic spirit to pave the way for talks over the North’s weapons program, warmly shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s smiling sister as well as the North’s nominal head of state.
The South is still technically at war with the North after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and the United States and North Korea have recently swapped nuclear threats. Pence vowed only this week to tighten sanctions on the North.
Underlining Moon’s efforts to re-engage with the North, the opening ceremony followed the story line of children wandering through a mythical landscape and discovering a world where people live in peace and harmony.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told the crowd that by allowing their athletes to march together under one flag at the ceremony, North and South Korea had shown sport’s “unique power” to unite people.
“All the athletes around me, all the spectators here in the stadium, and all Olympic fans watching around the world ... we are all touched by this wonderful gesture,” he said.
The Olympics have provided some respite from years of tense relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, though just hours before the ceremony hundreds of anti-North Korean protesters scuffled with riot police outside the stadium, burning North Korean flags and pictures of its leader, Kim Jong Un.
South Korea’s frigid February, where temperatures have plummeted to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night, has come as a shock to the system for athletes and visitors alike in the leadup to these Games, prompting concerns about hypothermia at the opening ceremony.
The weather was a little milder than feared on Friday, but spectators still huddled near heaters, holding hot packs and slurping down steaming fishcake soup to ward off the chills.
Bundled up in a scarf, mask and knitted hat, with hot packs tucked into her knee blanket, office worker Shin Hye-sook said she and her three colleagues were coping with the cold.
“We’re sitting as close as we can and trying not to move a lot to save our energy,” said the 60-year-old.
The alpine town first bid for the 2010 Games but narrowly lost out to Vancouver, and suffered similar heartbreak when it was beaten to the 2014 Olympics by Sochi.
After announcing its arrival on the international stage by hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics, South Korea now wants to show the world just how far it has come over the last 30 years with a Games showcasing its culture and technological prowess.
According to Olympic tradition, the Greek contingent headed the parade of athletes into the open-air stadium, followed by the other delegations in order according to the Korean alphabet.
Pence stood to welcome the U.S. athletes as the Korean pop hit Gangnam Style blared around the stadium, sparking the ‘Horse Dance’ in the crowd and among the volunteers.
The moment failed to elicit even a smile from the two senior North Korean officials in the VIPs box, however, as they sat stony-faced in black fluffy hats and long coats.
Elsewhere in the stadium, a Kim Jong Un impersonator was not made as welcome as the North Koreans in the VIP box and was ejected by security. “Well is my sister getting the same treatment?” he demanded to know.
As the athletes made their way around the track, one of the biggest cheers was reserved for muscle-bound Tongan Pita Taufatofua, who repeated his famed Rio Games entrance by marching in shirtless, oiled up and wearing a traditional skirt -- this time in sub-zero temperatures.
Later, the crowd erupted as athletes from North and South Korea marched together under the unification flag for the first time at an Olympics since 2006.
source: news agency
PYEONGCHANG: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made only a brief appearance at a reception marking the start of the Winter Olympics on Friday, avoiding a potentially awkward encounter with the ceremonial leader of North Korea attending the same event.
The reception in the mountain resort of Pyeongchang came hours before North and South Korean athletes marched together at the opening ceremony, the culmination of months of work by Seoul, which seeks to use the Olympics to ease tension spurred by North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Ahead of the reception, hosted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, South Korean media said Pence was expected to be seated opposite Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, at the 12-seat head table.
But South Korea’s presidential Blue House said Pence had a meeting scheduled with U.S. athletes and had only planned to stay briefly to greet other officials.
Pence shook hands with other leaders, including close ally Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but not Kim Yong Nam, according to a Blue House pool official.
Earlier on Friday, Pence said Moon gave his backing to additional measures the United States is planning to try to curb North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, speaking after paying tribute at a South Korean memorial.
At the opening ceremony, Kim Yong Nam and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, waved to North and South Korean athletes who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade.
Moon later officially declared the Olympics open, followed by a burst of fireworks. South Korea’s figure skating superstar and Olympic gold medalist Kim Yuna lit the Olympic cauldron.
The high-ranking North Korean delegation had landed in South Korea earlier in the day aboard Kim Jong Un’s white private jet which had the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, inscribed in black in Korean on its side, followed by the North Korean flag.
Kim Yo Jong and her delegation were greeted by government officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon, before boarding a bullet train to Pyeongchang. A special train had been prepared just for the visitors, a Blue House pool report said.
Smiling and seemingly unfazed by cameras flashing during the airport meeting, Kim Yo Jong wore a black coat, matching ankle boots and carried a black purse. Dozens of South Koreans at the airport tried to snap photographs of her on their mobile phones.
She was the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to visit the South, while Kim Yong Nam was the most senior North Korean official to make a cross-border trip.
The pair will have lunch with Moon at the Blue House on Saturday, Moon’s office said.
RIOTS AND GAMES
Pence had kept open the possibility for some contact with the North Koreans in South Korea, while reiterating Washington’s insistence that denuclearization by North Korea is a necessary condition for permanent peace.
Pence, Kim Yo Jong and other world leaders attended the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea.
Pence stood to welcome the U.S. athletes as the Korean pop hit Gangnam Style blared around the stadium, sparking the ‘Horse Dance’ in the crowd and among the volunteers.
Hundreds of anti-North Korea protesters scuffled with riot police hours not far from the main stadium before the opening ceremony began, with some of their banners reading “Moon regime is leading Korea to destruction”.
Thousands of spectators, including a squad of more than 200 North Korean cheerleaders, packed the frigid stadium for the opening ceremony.
“It is not as cold as I expected. It is a blessed day. I like the reconciliatory mood and I have high expectations,” said Kim Sang-yoon, a 44-year-old businessman who drove nearly five hours to see the opening ceremony with his wife and two sons.
source: news agency
A North Korean orchestra on Thursday gave a historic first concert in South Korea amid tight security and protests against the North's regime.
One day before the start of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, the Samjiyon orchestra performed under the direction of Hyon Song-wol, thought to be a former girlfriend of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, reports Efe.
Hours before the concert started in the city of Gangneung, which is set to host Olympic events, over 1,000 police officers were deployed to guarantee security amid protests against the North Korean regime, with demonstrators holding South Korean and American flags.
The protesters also held banners calling on Washington to launch pre-emptive airstrikes against the North, while others used loudspeakers to insult North Korea's leader as well as South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The concert, as well as the arrival of a taekwondo exhibition team and 229 cheerleaders from North Korea, was criticised by some protesters as a way to steal the limelight from the sporting event.
"I am sick of converting this into 'Pyongyang Olympics' and very angry with the orchestra's visit," Won Sun-Kyu, one of the protesters, told Efe, referring to the North's capital.
A North Korean delegation is to take part in the Games as a result of agreements signed by the two Koreas, which have technically been at war for 65 years.
Both countries have also agreed to march under the same "Korean Unification flag" in the highly-anticipated opening ceremony on Friday.
A delegation of high ranking officials of the Kim Jong-un regime was also due to arrive on Friday, including his sister, Kim Yo-jong, and the president of the national assembly, Kim Yong-nam.
source: news agency
Leh: Attempting a Guinness Book of World record for playing ice hockey at the highest altitude, a two-day tournament was organised at Chibra Kargyam in Ladakh's Changthang region.
As many as six teams, including five international teams from Canada, Germany, Russia, the USA and India, participated in the tournament.
The tournament, which was started yesterday, was jointly organised by Ladakh Winter Sports Club (LWSC), Hockey Foundation and Lalok Winter Sports Association.
Reflecting on the same, Lundup, the secretary of Lalok Winter Sports Association, told ANI, "Guinness world record matches are going on here. There are 16 representatives in this tournament from a different part of the country. They are players from Canada, Germany, India, Russia and USA. This tournament is organized by the Ladakh Winter Sports Club (LWSC) in collaboration with the Lalok Winter Sport Association and with the help of the Hockey Foundation. Here the altitude is 14,050 feet of ice hockey ring. So, it's the highest world hockey rink in this world."
Tundup, a member of Ladakh Winter Sports Club (LWSC), echoed similar views and said that it is a proud moment for the entire country to host such kind of event.
"I am very happy that here the matches are being played for the Guinness World record. Here five overseas teams have come and there is one team from Ladakh. It is a big achievement for us to organize such kind of event in Ladakh. It is an honour for the entire Singey Lalok area of Leh district to have such event. It is a proud moment for our state and for our country because I believe such kind of event has never happened in India. I want to thank all the ministers of the state for supporting us," he told.
Meanwhile, Anthon, who has been coaching ice hockey in India for five years now, revealed that they were planning the Guinness World record match for almost two years now and hoped to see many more events like this in future.
"I am from Canada. I have been coaching in India for five years. We have been organizing and planning this Guinness World record for almost two years now.It is such an amazing day for Canadians here those have been involved in the ice hockey in Ladakh. And all the Ladhaki people here, I am happy that they are joining and that they can enjoy this beautiful moment in the history of ice hockey in India. I hope in the coming years there will be more tournaments like this," Anthon said.
Located at a distance of 160 km from Leh, the natural ice hockey rink is at the altitude of 14050 feet above sea level.
source: news agency
Melbourne: 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer is on verge to become the oldest player to claim world number one spot in the men's tennis history after he accepted the late wildcard to play in next week's ATP event in Rotterdam.
Federer, who has agreed to play in the Dutch hardcourt event for the first time since 2015, currently sits on the second spot in the world rankings.
He is just 155 points behind old-rival Rafael Nadal, with 180 points up for grabs if he makes it to the semi-finals in the Netherlands.
Nadal, on the other hand, is currently recovering from a thigh injury he sustained during the Australian Open and is not slated to make a return to the tennis court until the Mexican Open in late February.
Talking about his participation in the tournament, Federer said, "The tournament is special for me. I remember playing for the first time in 1999 as it was one of the first events where I got the chance to play at the highest level."
Meanwhile, tournament director Richard Krajicek said that it is tremendous to have Federer playing in Rotterdam, especially after he won a record-equalling sixth Australian Open title last month with a five-set victory over Marin Cilic.
"After his fantastic result at the Australian Open, it is tremendous news that he will be joining us in Rotterdam. It is crowns to the celebration of the history of our tournament.The last 12 months have shown his tremendous drive. It makes perfect sense that he wants to capitalise on his current form," news.com.au quoted Krajicek, as saying.
It should be noted that USA's Andre Agassi has held the record as the oldest world number one in the men's player history since achieving the feat aged 33 years and 131 days in 2003.
source: news agency
Mumbai: Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali Tendulkar launched a book on child health care titled 'Even When There Is A Doctor'.
The book was launched on February 8 in Mumbai.
Penned down by Dr Yashwant Amdekar along with Dr Rajesh Chokhani and Krishnan Sivaramakrishnan, the book describes the role of an individual or parents in improving their child's health.
Speaking at the event, Sachin said, "The book tells us how important first 1,000 days are in a child's life. I always followed my teacher's advice of 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' until I met a doctor (referring to wife Anjali) and felt like going back to my teacher and telling her, 'An apple along with a doctor is a better option'."
He added that he was a naughty child, who was tough to manage.
"It's good to be naughty but respecting elders is equally important," the cricket icon said.
Meanwhile, Anjali emphasised on the message the book conveys saying, "The book is a manual we have all been looking for. Nowadays, parents are busy and their routines leave them with no time to devote to their kids".
She added that the book will help parents identify simple problems and rectify them.
source: news agency
Washington: U.S. lawmakers on Thursday began a second congressional investigation into the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Gymnastics (USAG) and other gymnastic organizations over a sexual abuse scandal that led to the conviction of the sport’s former top medical doctor.
A U.S. House of Representatives committee asked the organizations for training materials, other documents regarding medical consent procedures and how complaints and reports of abuse are handled, according to letters sent by the panel.
The former sports doctor, Larry Nassar, last year pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes under the guise of medical treatment for nearly 20 years and has been given two prison sentences in Michigan of 40 to 125 years and 40 to 175 years. He is also serving a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.
A Michigan judge said on Jan. 31 that so far 265 girls and women had accused Nassar of sexual misconduct. More than 150 girls and women recounted their stories of abuse in court.
Dozens of the victims, including international stars such as Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles have accused officials at the USOC, USAG and Michigan State University - where Nassar also worked - of failing to investigate complaints stretching back decades.
Republicans and Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday said they want to understand what failed within each of the groups and why. Letters requesting the information were sent to the gymnastics governing bodies, Michigan State University, Karolyi Training Camps and Gedderts’ Twistars USA Gymnastics Club.
“The Committee is investigating how Nassar’s crimes were able to occur, let alone persist, for over two decades,” the committee said in its letters. Each is “at the centre of many of these failures,” the panel said.
Another panel, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is investigating sexual abuse in organised sports more broadly. The governing bodies have until Friday to submit written responses on questions from that panel about their handling of sexual misconduct cases.
On Wednesday, 18 senators asked to create a special panel on sexual misconduct issues in athletics to investigate USAG and the USOC.
The board of directors of USA Gymnastics stepped down after U.S. Olympic officials threatened to decertify the governing body. The USOC has announced an independent investigation into its own conduct and that of USA Gymnastics.
source: news agency
Lewis Hamilton’s former team McLaren are watching his contract situation with interest, even if the four times Formula One world champion and Mercedes have said they want to stay together.
The 33-year-old Briton has a season left to run on his current contract but is expected to sign a new multi-year agreement with the team that has won both championships for the past four years.
Nothing appears to have been signed yet, however, allowing rivals to indulge in what may be little more than flights of fantasy.
“I don’t think there’s a team in the pitlane that wouldn’t be interested in having Lewis drive for them, us included,” McLaren’s executive director Zak Brown told reporters when asked about the situation.
“If anyone got Lewis, it would be great for the team. He has a great history here and he is very friendly with the shareholders,” added the American, who joined the Woking-based outfit at the end of 2016.
Hamilton won his first title with McLaren in 2008, a year after his debut, before moving to Mercedes in 2013 and taking three more championships.
The sport’s most high-profile driver, who enjoys a private jet and all the trappings of success, said last November he expected a new contract to be straightforward -- a sentiment echoed by team boss and shareholder Toto Wolff.
“Lewis has become such an important pillar within the team that it’s a no-brainer that we continue with each other,” said the Austrian.
Brown felt any delay in signing was likely to be more down to Hamilton than the team.
”I am going to guess that he’s contemplating how much longer he wants to go,“ he said. ”If you’re Lewis, with what you’ve done with Mercedes and where Mercedes are headed, you’d re-sign with the team.
”He’s talked about when he stops, so that would be my guess. I can’t imagine it’s money or the quality of the team.
”He just might be going ‘let me see how this year goes, what’s the rush? They’re not going to sell the seat from underneath me’. That would be my speculation.
“We might find they actually have signed and are just not telling us.”
The season starts in Australia on March 25.
Ferrari are likely to have a vacancy at the end of the season, with 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen out of contract, and the sport’s oldest and most successful team also have a special allure.
McLaren are the second most successful team but have not won a race since 2012 and finished ninth of 10 teams last year, splitting with Honda and starting a new partnership with Renault.
source: news agency
Pyeongchang: North Korea’s ceremonial leader and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence are set for their first face-to-face encounter on Friday when they attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, landed in South Korea on Friday along with leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, aboard her brother’s private jet shortly before 2 p.m. (0400 GMT).
The white airplane had Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, inscribed in black Korean letters on its side, followed by the North Korean flag. Police formed barricades inside the airport, from where the delegation was to leave for mountain resort of Pyeongchang.
Kim Yo Jong is the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to visit the South, while Kim Yong Nam is the most senior North Korean official to make a cross-border trip. They were greeted at the airport by South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon.
The pair will have lunch with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, Moon’s office said.
Pence arrived in South Korea on Thursday and had talks and dinner with Moon, both reiterating their commitment and cooperation to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula sparked by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.
He met North Korean defectors on Friday and was expected to pay tribute at a memorial for 46 South Korean sailors killed in 2010 in the sinking of a warship that Seoul blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack.
‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’
The move by Pence, who has described the North as the “most tyrannical and oppressive regime”, is in line with Washington’s campaign to put “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.
Pence has kept open the possibility for some contact with the North Koreans in South Korea, while reiterating Washington’s insistence that denuclearization is a necessary condition for peace on the Korean peninsula.
Pence, Kim Yo Jong and other world leaders will attend the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea, later on Friday.
Moon will also hold a welcoming reception for his top guests before the opening, a presidential official said, where Pence and Kim Yong Nam could sit at the same table with Moon.
South Korea is pinning its hopes on the Olympics as a venue to demonstrate its efforts to defuse tensions and foster inter-Korean rapprochement.
The Games will see athletes from the two Koreas march together under one peninsula flag for the first time in more than a decade.
Nearly 500 North Koreans are participating in the Olympics, which run through to Feb. 25, including a cheering squad, art troupe and taekwondo demonstration team, the South’s Unification Ministry said.
However, the inter-Korean Olympics detente has raised concerns in Washington and Tokyo that Seoul may undermine the U.S.-led campaign of global pressure to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.
Moon is also scheduled to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during which they are expected to discuss the North Korea standoff and the sensitive issue of “comfort women”, a euphemism for girls and women forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels.
source: news agency
The U.S. Olympic system “failed” the hundreds of young female athletes sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Board of Directors Chairman Larry Probst said on Friday.
“The Olympic system in the United States failed these athletes and we are part of the Olympic system in the United States,” said Probst, speaking hours before the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
He also said the USOC had not taken steps quickly enough to contact gymnasts abused by Nassar and that it had erred by failing to attend earlier sentencing hearings.
“That was simply a mistake,” he said. “We should have been there.”
Olympic champion Simone Biles is among several gymnasts who have criticized USOC for not making efforts to get in touch with them as the scandal unfolded.
“We took too long to reach out to the gymnasts after these revelations became public. We’re in the process of doing that now,” said Probst.
Former sports doctor Nassar last year pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes under the guise of medical treatment for nearly 20 years, and has been given two prison sentences in Michigan of 40 to 125 years and 40 to 175 years.
He is also serving a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.
U.S. lawmakers on Thursday began a second congressional investigation into USOC, USA Gymnastics and other gymnastic organisations over the abuse scandal.
Dozens of the victims, including Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles, have accused officials at the USOC, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University of failing to investigate complaints stretching back decades.
The board of directors of USA Gymnastics stepped down after U.S. Olympic officials threatened to decertify the governing body.
The USOC had announced an independent investigation into its own conduct that would help them understand “who knew what about Nassar’s abuse, when and what they did with that information”.
source: news agency
Barcelona reached the King’s Cup final for a record fifth year in a row on Thursday with a 2-0 second leg win at Valencia in which Philippe Coutinho scored his first goal for the club as they secured a 3-0 aggregate semi-final success.
Valencia bossed the first half at a packed Mestalla as the hosts chased down a 1-0 deficit but their hopes of a comeback were dashed when Brazilian Coutinho slid in to turn home a cross from his old Liverpool team mate Luis Suarez in the 49th minute.
Coutinho, who joined Barca from Liverpool for a club record 142 million pounds ($197.66 million) in January, had been on the pitch less than three minutes when he scored, while Ivan Rakitic stretched the visitors’ lead eight minutes from time.
Barcelona have won the trophy for the last three years and face Sevilla in the final on April 21, a re-run of the 2016 showpiece which the Catalans won 2-0 after extra time.
Sevilla beat Leganes 2-0 on Wednesday in the other semi-final to advance 3-1 on aggregate.
”I feel very happy to be able to play in a final while being at the club for only a couple of months,“ Coutinho told reporters. ”We still have to play it and we’ve got a lot of things to do before the final.
”I have been trying to score since my first game and I‘m happy to have done that, although the most important thing is that the team won the game and we are able to leave here happy.
“Everyone told me we could be the first team to reach five finals in a row, we all knew it and it’s a great achievement.”
Valencia were looking to reach the final for the first time in a decade and coach Marcelino deployed an attacking 4-3-3 formation which helped his side put Barca on the back foot in the early stages of the game.
Rodrigo Moreno came closest to scoring for the hosts when he crashed a header against the bar in the 13th minute and the Spain international was thwarted again later in the half by Barca goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.
“We played a very good first half and we had some very good chances to score and level the tie, but when you’re playing against these teams if you don’t score the chances you get you pay a price,” said Valencia keeper Jaume Domenech.
source: news agency
A former U.S. Olympic swimmer accused a former coach of the national team of sexually abusing her when she was 16, joining a chorus of young athletes in gymnastics and other sports who have come forward with similar allegations involving team officials.
Ariana Kukors, who represented the United States in the 2012 Olympic Games, said Sean Hutchison, then a coach for USA Swimming’s national team, began “grooming” her for a sexual relationship when she was 13.
“I’ve realized that stories like my own are too important to go unwritten,” Kukors, 28, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hutchison, 46, could not be reached for comment.
His swimming club, the King Aquatic Club in Washington state, said in a statement that the news “broke our collective hearts.” Hutchison remained a club executive but had no “direct interaction with our swimmers for a very long time,” the statement said.
Kukors, whom the club described as “part of the King Aquatic family,” said she first met Hutchison through the club.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have searched Hutchison’s Seattle home, a department spokeswoman said, describing it as an investigation into “alleged online child exploitation,” without giving further details.
Athletes have denounced U.S. Olympic officials in recent weeks as reacting too slowly to reports of sexual abuse. The criticism grew from the emotionally charged sentencing hearings for Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse last year.
Kukors echoed this complaint.
“Much like the USOC knew about Larry Nassar years before his arrest and did nothing, USA Swimming had notice in 2010 that Sean Hutchison was involved in an inappropriate coach-athlete relationship with Ariana and took no actions to protect her or other swimmers,” her lawyer Robert Allard said in a statement.
USA Swimming said in a statement it investigated in 2010 a report that Hutchison and Kukors had a sexual relationship in breach of the organization’s code of conduct. Both denied a relationship at the time, and the case was closed.
The governing body said it first learned of the allegations of sexual abuse while Kukors was a minor for the first time when she went public this week. The group supported Kukors and was helping the investigation.
“We stand by her, and all other victims, in their quest to break their silence and confront their horrific experiences,” the statement said.
source: news agency
LONDON: The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday that it had found no evidence of match fixing in the third Ashes test between Australia and England last year.
An investigation was launched following allegations in The Sun newspaper that underground bookmakers from India had offered to sell undercover reporters information about spot-fixing ahead of the game in Perth.
Spot-fixing occurs when corrupt players agree to manipulate part of a match by, for example, bowling a wide on a particular delivery or ensuring a particular run rate.
“We have carried out an extensive global investigation with anti-corruption colleagues from Member countries based on the allegations in The Sun and the material they shared with us,” said Alex Marshall, general manager of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit in a statement on Thursday.
“I am satisfied that there is no evidence to suggest any match has been corrupted by the individuals in the investigation nor is there any indication that any international players, administrators or coaches have been in contact with the alleged fixers.”
source: news agency
Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC have almost sealed the spot in the playoffs with their last win over Chennaiyin FC but their opponents for Friday's Hero Indian Super League clash - FC Goa still have got all to do if they want to join the league leaders in the top four.
Sergio Lobera's side are currently fifth in the league standings with 20 points, just three less than third-placed Chennaiyin FC. The Goan side, however, have a game in hand. A win tomorrow here at Sree Kanteerava Stadium could see FC Goa come back in the knock out contention strongly, but that is easier said than done when you are up against Bengaluru at home.
Albert Roca's blues are sitting comfortably at the top of points table with a five-point lead over their nearest rivals FC Pune City. Bengaluru FC have won four consecutive games in the ISL. The home side have been in scintillating form since going down unceremoniously to Delhi Dynamos last month.
Talking about tomorrow clash at the pre-match press conference, FC Goa's assistant coach Derrick Pereira emphasized that his team is focussed on the game at hand. "we would be focussing on the games that we have to play. We don't want to think ahead at this moment," he said.
Goa’s campaign has received set back with unfavourable results in last two outing, losing to Mumbai City and later a draw with NorthEast United. FC Goa has been troubled by their defence but Pereira believes that's is a part of how they play, "I think we play as a team and we follow a certain idea. We'll stick to that and won't change on those ideas."
FC Goa can take a heart ahead of the crucial game having defeated Bengaluru in a seven-goal thriller when the two teams squared off earlier in the season in Goa. And Bengaluru FC would want to set that record straight when they go out on the field.
"In that game, we had our chances we didn't take them. But we knew we were playing against a really good team. Tomorrow we will be playing against a team which I think will be in the top four. They are a good team and they have good players," Bengaluru FC head coach Albert Roca said.
The Spanish tactician also hinted that he may rest some of his key players for the game given the tight schedule he has got. "We have also got an AFC game coming up. So we may make some changes."
Kolkata: Bulgarian football legend Dimitar Berbatov scored his first goal in the Hero Indian Super League for Kerala Blasters FC but it counted for little in the end as the visitors were held 2-2 by ATK at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, on Thursday.
Kerala Blasters twice took the lead, first through Gudjon Baldvinsson (33 minutes) and then through Dimitar Berbatov (55 minutes) but goals from Ryan Taylor (38 minutes) and Tom Thorpe (75 minutes) helped cancel the leads.
The draw helped ATK arrest their four losses in a row and secured the first point for interim coach Ashley Westwood but doesn’t help their chances of qualification. ATK now have 13 points from 14 matches and have seen their chances of qualification go up in smoke.
Kerala Blasters will also be disappointed with the point. They have temporarily displaced FC Goa from the sixth spot with 21 points compared to FC Goa’s 20, but have played three extra matches.
The clash between last year’s finalists, now struggling in this edition of the Hero ISL, started tentatively and sprang to life only towards the later half of the first 45 minutes. Kerala Blasters were the first to break the deadlock in the 33rd minute as Baldvinsson found the mark.
A good cross in the danger zone from Prasanth saw Baldvinsson jump highest and head towards goal where it hit the shoulder of ATK defender Jordi Montel and sailed past the goalkeeper.
ATK needed five minutes to get on level scores as they capitalised on a defensive lapse. Milan Singh tried to play the ball forward but it was intercepted by Taylor. He then took his time and picked his spot as the ball deflected off Lalruatthara and sailed past Kerala goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhury.
The teams were tied 1-1 at half time and Kerala once again took the lead when play resumed in the second session. It was former Manchester United forward Berbatov who gave them the lead with his first goal of the season. Jackichand Singh’s free-kick was flicked on by Nemanja Lakic-Pesic and fell to Berbatov on top of the box. The Bulgarian sharpshooter connected neatly and picked the bottom left corner of the goal for a classy finish.
It seemed like Berbatov’s goal would be enough for Kerala Blasters but ATK hit back with the equaliser in the 74th minute after going close on a couple of occasions.
Taylor's corner was first cleared by the Kerala defence but the ball traveled back to the flank where Taylor sent in another measured cross which Thorpe did well to connect from inside a crowded goalmouth.
In the end, ATK managed to hold on to that draw and won their first point in five matches, while Kerala were left to rue a final chance in the final minute when Thorpe cleared Baldvinsson’s attempt on the goalline.
CAPE TOWN: Intensity is the hallmark of his batting and India captain Virat Kohli says he has no idea what he would do if that was gone, the primary reason behind his obsessive focus of physical fitness.
The 29-year-old run-machine slammed his 34th one-day hundred in the third ODI against South Africa on Wednesday, once again playing a pivotal role in a massive India win.
"Look I am going to be 30 this year...I want to play this kind of cricket even when I am 34-35. That's why I train so much because I am a guy who likes to play with intensity. Once that is gone, I don't know what I am going to do on the field," Kohli said reflecting on his unbeaten knock of 160, which guided India to a 124-run triumph for an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
"I try to protect that. I try to train as much as I can. Keep a check on my diet. Those things pay off on days like these. When the team needs it, and you stand up, and you are able to pull through. As an athlete you crave for days like these," he added.
Kohli said Wednesday's hundred was special in the sense that he had to continuously change his game through the innings. He said these were hard earned runs on a tough wicket against a good bowling attack.
"International runs are never easy. They are hard earned. Some might come on more batting-friendly pitches, but I think with their attack, and the pace and bounce they were getting initially, you had to adjust your game.
"Then the wicket got considerably slower after the 30th over, so you had to again adjust your game, and make sure, with wickets falling also, that you continued adjusting through the innings," Kohli said.
Kohli said thinking of the team's requirements helps him gloss over the physical strains of playing a marathon knock.
"I was pleased from that point of view that I was able to bat through because I was struggling with a bit of cramp around the 90s. Then wickets kept falling, I decided to hit out, because I thought I might not have enough energy left.
"Then amazing things can happen when you are thinking about the team all the time. You can push your body beyond limits that you might not push yourself otherwise. I experienced that today, and that was an amazing feeling," he added.
This was Kohli's second highest ODI score. He also became the first Indian batsman to score a hundred against South Africa at Newlands. Overall, he scored his 12th ODI hundred as Indian skipper, going past Sourav Ganguly's record of 11 centuries.
Kohli said that there is a marked difference in how he approaches scoring runs when batting first and when chasing.
"Today I wanted to accelerate at different times. When Shikhar Dhawan was batting, my job was to take singles...and keep rotating the strike, to be able to get the partnership going. When he got out I wanted to accelerate but we lost 2-3 wickets immediately.
"When batting first, you switch roles -- one guy is aggressor and you become the guy who is rotating strike. When he goes, you take that role up and another guy rotates strike. That is how it is usually done," he said.
While chasing, Kohli said, it is easier to compartmentalise since the target is already there to be chased.
"Batting second is very different in terms of knowing what you need to do, when to accelerate, when to keep those singles coming, etc. Batting first, you want to score as many as possible but sometimes the situation doesn't allow you to play in a certain way that you want to throughout the innings," he explained.
India have now won three matches in an ODI bilateral series in South Africa for the first time. So much so, they are now on the cusp of a series win should they win the fourth ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Given the Proteas' problems against wrist spin though, there is a possibility of a 6-0 scoreline as well, even if Kohli didn't agree to it just yet.
"We have to make sure we're not letting our guard down because we worked really hard from that last Test to win four games in a row on a tough tour of South Africa. We are really proud of ourselves as a team. But I think the job is not even half done yet.
"It's quite a far-fetched thing and still three games to go in the series," he said about the possibility of a 6-0 whitewash.
Kohli promised to up the ante in the remaining three games.
"Biggest positive out of today, with 3-0 up, is that there is no way we can lose the series now. That is certainly something that lifts the team even more. As I said we would have more intensity and more passion when we step out for the fourth game," Kohli signed off.
source: news agency
In recent months the situation of claims and counter-claims with regard to Russian doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics has become more confusing than ever, with a barrage of acronyms -- IOC, WADA, CAS -- and scores of athletes involved in a spiral of accusations, bans and appeals that are continuing even as the Pyeongchang Games get under way.
Below is an explanation of the key players and issues in the Russian doping saga.
What is the IOC?
The International Olympic Committee is the global body in charge of the Summer and Winter Olympics. It has some 100 members who are elected by their peers. The IOC is funded through broadcast rights deals, sponsorship as well as licensing and marketing.
It says it redistributes 92 percent of its revenues to its stakeholders which are the athletes, the international federations, national Olympic committees and the hosts of the Olympic Games.
What is CAS?
CAS is the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest tribunal for the resolution of sports-related disputes. It was set up by the IOC in 1984 to offer resolution of sports-related disputes with the use of arbitrators.
While it says it is independent, senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member John Coates, heads the International Council of Arbitration for Sport, (ICAS) a body set up to ensure CAS’s independence and which is responsible for the administration and financing of CAS.
What is WADA?
The World Anti-Doping Agency, set up by the IOC in 1999, is the global body that drafts and monitors the WADA Code, the document harmonising anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries.
WADA is funded equally by the IOC and governments. Its key activities also include scientific research, education and development of anti-doping capacities. Its annual budget is $30 million a year with WADA wanting to hike it to 45 million, saying the organisation is underfunded.
Why did the Russian athletes appeal to CAS?
The IOC has banned dozens of Russian athletes for doping rule violations during the Sochi Olympics, based on evidence from several investigations. Russia had finished top of the medals table at their home Games. It also banned them for life from the Olympics.
But CAS upheld the appeal for 28 of them citing insufficient evidence. For 11 others evidence was enough to establish anti-doping rule violations but their lifetime Olympic ban was also commuted into a ban just from the Pyeongchang Games.
More Russian athletes have appealed to CAS after they were excluded from the Games despite having no doping sanction. The IOC said they were banned because of evidence and suspicion of wrong-doing.
Who has the ultimate say on whether an athlete can participate in the Olympics?
The IOC reserves the right to include or exclude athletes from the Games. The IOC cannot sanction athletes for any anti-doping rule violation but it can refuse to invite them to its events as it has done with the Russian athletes despite them having been cleared by CAS.
Why did the IOC criticise CAS?
The IOC was stunned when CAS upheld the Russians’ appeal, calling the decision surprising and disappointing and one which would have a negative impact on the fight against doping.
While it has always insisted that CAS is the highest sports court IOC President Thomas Bach said change was necessary within CAS to allow it to “better manage the quality and the consistency of its jurisdiction”.
Why was Russia investigated in the first place?
Three years ago several media organisations carried claims of extensive doping among Russian athletes at past summer and winter Olympics, but on a huge scale at Sochi.
Federations, the IOC and the WADA launched a string of investigations to look into the issue which ballooned into the biggest doping scandal in years, engulfing many sports and said to involve more than 1,000 athletes.
The IOC has called it an “unprecedented systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia.
What were the investigations?
WADA commissioned an independent investigation led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. The IOC then launched two investigations. The first, the Oswald commission, looked into evidence of systematic manipulation of doping samples at the Sochi Games. The second, the Schmid commission, investigated the level of knowledge and possible involvement by the Russian state.
What did they find?
The Oswald commission found that dozens of Russian athletes were involved in anti-doping rule violations at Sochi, widening the Russian doping scandal that had been triggered by track and field athlete-turned-whistleblower Yulia Stepanova.
The Schmidt commission confirmed that the Russian authorities developed a system that allowed a Moscow laboratory to routinely change positive test results to negative, as well as to tamper with samples at Sochi.
What happened then?
In December the IOC banned Russia from competing as an independent nation in Pyeongchang.
It instead carefully screened Russian athletes, and those who had no doping past, had been tested rigorously and were not mentioned in the various reports, were invited to compete in South Korea.
A total of 169 Russians were invited to the Games - the third biggest team after the United States and Canada - and they will compete as “athletes of Russia” under the Olympic flag and not their own.
Who is Grigory Rodchenkov?
Rodchenkov was the head of the Russia’s anti-doping laboratory and a key player in Russian doping at Sochi. He made headlines in 2016 as a whistleblower, helping expose the extraordinarily complex and extensive nature of Russia’s doping program.
His revelations were confirmed by the McLaren Report, leading to Russia’s partial ban from the 2016 Summer Olympics and total ban as an independent nation from the 2018 Winter Olympics.
He is currently living in hiding in the United States.
So why are the Russians appealing?
Those appealing are Russian athletes who have never tested positive or been guilty of a doping rule violation but were still banned from competing in Pyeongchang due to undisclosed evidence or suspicion of wrong-doing.
Of a first batch of appeals, 28 of them had their IOC sanctions and Olympic lifetime bans overturned by CAS, who said that though there might be circumstantial evidence that satisfied WADA and the IOC, it was not enough legally to uphold individual bans.
The IOC has refused to invite them to South Korea saying there was enough evidence in the reports to merit their exclusion, but they are appealing again against that exclusion.
What are the Olympic Athletes from Russian allowed to do in Pyeongchang?
According to the IOC’s ‘Conduct Guidelines for Olympic Athlete from Russia”, athletes must wear only the authorized OAR uniforms and refrain from any public form of publicity associated with the Russian flag, anthem, emblem and symbols.
The Russian national anthem will not be played if they top the podium. Instead it will be the Olympic anthem. The athletes will also march under the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony.
The suspended Russian Olympic Committee will also be responsible for their fans’ behaviour inside the venues and any display of national flags or emblems even at non-official venues must have IOC approval.
If the IOC is satisfied at the end of the games that Russia has stuck to the conduction guidelines then the nation can march in the closing ceremony under its own flag.
source: news agency
