Russian player dedicates medal to banned compatriots

London: Russian speed skater Semen Elistratov, who earned Russia its first medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, dedicated the medal to his compatriots who have been banned from the Games in an "unfair way".

After winning a bronze medal in men's 1500m short track speed skating, following a crash that took out two skaters, Elistratov said, "I have difficulties to hold back my tears. I am incredibly happy that I did it, in spite of all the circumstances around Russian sport."

"I dedicate this medal to all guys that have been excluded from these Games in such a hard and unfair way. This medal is for you," the Guardian quoted Elistratov as saying.

Russia were banned from competing at the Winter Olympics because of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

However, 169 Russian athletes are allowed to compete in the Games as neutrals under the OAR team banner and Elistratov is one of them.

"I still have two distances to contest and I will fight until the end," he said.

Elistratov comments are, however, under investigation as they appear to breach the rule over making any political statements.

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang were kicked off on February 9.

The first medal of the Games was won by Sweden's Charlotte Kalla in the ladies' skiathlon while Hyo-jun Lim provided the home nation with their first gold.



source: news agency

Games organisers confirm cyber attack, won't reveal source

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics organisers confirmed on Sunday that the Games had fallen victim to a cyber attack during Friday’s opening ceremony, but they refused to reveal the source.

The Games’ systems, including the internet and television services, were affected by the hack two days ago but organisers said it had not compromised any critical part of their operations.

“Maintaining secure operations is our purpose,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams.

“We are not going to comment on the issue. It is one we are dealing with. We are making sure our systems are secure and they are secure.”

Asked if organisers knew who was behind the attack, Adams said: “I certainly don’t know. But best international practice says that you don’t talk about an attack.”

The Winter Games are being staged only 80km (50 miles) from the border with North Korea, which is technically still at war with the South since their 1950-1953 war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

The two teams marched together at an Olympics opening ceremony for the first time since 2006.

South Korea has been using the Pyeongchang Games to break the ice with the reclusive North, which has been trading nuclear threats with the United States recently.

“All issues were resolved and recovered yesterday morning,” Pyeongchang organising committee spokesman Sung Baik-you told reporters.

“We know the cause of the problem but that kind of issues occurs frequently during the Games. We decided with the IOC we are not going to reveal the source (of the attack),” he told reporters.

Russia, which has been banned from the Games for doping, said days before the opening ceremony that any allegations linking Russian hackers to attacks on the infrastructure connected to the Pyeongchang Olympic Games were unfounded.

“We know that Western media are planning pseudo-investigations on the theme of ‘Russian fingerprints’ in hacking attacks on information resources related to the hosting of the Winter Olympic Games in the Republic of Korea,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

“Of course, no evidence will be presented to the world.”

Cyber security researchers said in January they had found early indications that Russia-based hackers may be planning attacks against anti-doping and Olympic organisations in retaliation for Russia’s exclusion from the Pyeongchang Games.


source: news agency

Protesters tear N. Korean flags, leader's photos in Seoul

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

On paper, Russia's Olympic podium chances strong despite ban

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

Aim of IOC verdict is to cause political harm to Russia: PM

Moscow: The purpose of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) commissions decision to bar acquitted Russian athletes from the Winter Olympics in South Korea is to cause political harm to Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

The IOC earlier issued a statement declining a request to send invitations to the Games to 13 Russian athletes and two coaches, who had been cleared by the Swiss-based court, reports Tass news agency.

"The IOC's commission made a disgraceful decision. It was unfair and unlawful. Also, it was immoral and politicized. By prohibiting our athletes, whose rights were restored by the court of arbitration, created especially for settling such disputes, the IOC's commission trampled down the Olympic Charter and elementary principles of law," Medvedev said on his Facebook page.

"Unproven guilt spells innocence. It is up to the court to make the final decision. This time a decision was made by a group of people who placed themselves above the court, the IOC, the athletes and the fans.

The purpose of this decision is very far away from sports. Its aim is to cause political harm to our country," Medvedev said.

Medvedev agreed the IOC had the right to decide who of the athletes should be invited to the Olympics.

"But how can one explain the fact that those who face no legal charges and whose guilt was not proven in court are not invited? This approach runs counter to the fundamental basics of law. Not to mention the risk of ruining the careers of people who dedicated their whole life to sport," Medvedev said.

"Doping has nothing to do with that," he said. "Talking about that further on is laughable."

"It might be possible to somehow tolerate a biased doping investigation targeted against one country, Russia, but the commission's decision to defy a verdict pronounced by a court for sport is beyond one's grasp," Medvedev said. "The result will be a long-term one."

"First, business gained the upper hand over the testament of Pierre de Coubertin in the IOC. Now politics has overpowered law and decency," Medvedev said.


source: news agency