Olympics: IOC confident over Korea Games as French committee plays
down concerns
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[September 23, 2017]
By Karolos Grohmann
(Reuters) - France's Olympic Committee
on Friday played down security concerns over next year's winter
Games in South Korea, as organizers said athletes' wellbeing was
their priority and expressed confidence the event would go ahead.
With tensions on the Korean peninsula threatening to bubble over,
the government in Paris on Thursday became the first to publicly
raise the possibility of skipping the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Olympics
on safety grounds.
North Korea, which conducted a sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 to
global condemnation, said on Friday it might test a hydrogen bomb
over the Pacific Ocean after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened
to destroy the reclusive country.
"We are monitoring the situation on the Korean peninsula and the
region very closely." an International Olympic Committee spokesman
said.
"Athletes' safety and security are of course a primary concern for
the IOC. This is why ...we continue to be in touch with the heads of
state concerned."
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"In none of the discussions has anybody expressed any doubt about
the Olympic Games 2018," the spokesman said, adding preparations
remained on track.
The IOC said it was helping North Korea prepare its athletes for the
Games and would cover costs of their equipment if needed.
France's Sports Minister Laura Flessel had said on Thursday if the
crisis deepened and athletes' security could not be assured, "the
French Olympics team will stay at home."
"We're not there yet," she added, just a week after the IOC awarded
the 2024 summer Olympics to Paris.
In a statement on Friday, the country's Olympic Committee did not
mention any potential absence from the Games, referring only to the
IOC as the focal point of any developments.
"With the safety and the security of the athletes at the top of its
priorities, the IOC indicates that nothing at this time leads to
believe that the organizing conditions of the winter Olympic Games
do not comply with these imperatives," it said.
MONITORING DEVELOPMENTS
The multi-billion dollar Pyeongchang Olympics will be held just 80
km (50 miles) from the demilitarized zone between North and South
Korea, the world's most heavily armed border.
Other winter sports powerhouses said they were monitoring
developments but had no plans to miss the event.
The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) said it was "very much looking
forward" to the Games.
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An ice sculpture of the Olympic rings is seen during the Pyeongchang
Winter Festival, near the venue for the opening and closing ceremony
of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South
Korea, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
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"Our preparations continue in earnest and, as with all Games, we
will continue to work with our state department and local organizers
to ensure that our athletes, and our entire delegation, are safe,"
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said in a statement on the U.S. team
website.
"We are confident in the Pyeongchang organizing committee’s ability
to deliver a great Games, and our hope is that the focus will be on
our athletes and their great stories as they reach the pinnacle of
success and proudly represent the United States in South Korea.”
Russia said security was each host country's responsibility and
China's foreign ministry said it was not aware of any plans for the
its Olympic team to not attend.
Italy's Olympic committee said on Friday that it and other national
committees had received reassurances from IOC President Thomas Bach
last week at a meeting in Lima.
"We look forward to safe and secure Olympic Winter Games," Italy
committee president Giovanni Malagò said in a statement emailed to
Reuters.
Waiving participation of the Swiss team "is at the moment not under
discussion," one of its Olympic committee officials told Reuters.
Sweden also had no plans to stay away.
"I cannot really see it (a situation of not going)," Swedish Olympic
council CEO Peter Reinebo told news agency TT.
"It would take an overall assessment of the IOC and the local
organizing committee, an international decision by the United
Nations or a strong general counsel from the Swedish authorities.
But none of those (conditions) exists at the moment. We are
completely focused on going."
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North and South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53
conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Philip O'Connor
in Stockholm, Brian Homewood in Berne, Hyunjoo Jin and Christine Kim
in Seoul, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Polina Nikolskaya in Moscow,
Steve Scherer in Rome and Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina;
editing by John Stonestreet/Peter Rutherford)
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