Pyeongchang the place to be for all of Korea
SCRATCH beneath the political permafrost and the frozen vials of Russian urine, and a Winter Olympics is threatening to break out in Pyeongchang. With the temperature predictably plummeting in the Olympic Stadium, a Games whose buildup has been beset by a doping scandal and talk of bringing peace to the Korean peninsula, was declared open by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Alluding to an issue which was clarified less than nine hours prior to the lighting of the flame, when the appeals of 47 excluded Russian athletes were thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Bach told the athletes: ‘You can only really enjoy the Olympic experience if you respect the rules and stay clean. ‘Only then will your lifelong memories be the memories of a true and worthy Olympian.’ Watched by Kim Yojong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who became the first member of the ruling Pyongyang family to set foot in the south since the end of the Korean War, and a 200-strong squad of selected supporters, the two Korean teams marched sideby-side under a unified flag. It may have been the 10th time the two Koreas had performed a similar gesture at a sporting event since Sydney 2000, but it did not stop Bach declaring the moment ‘a powerful message of peace to the world.’ Bach added: ‘We are all touched by this wonderful gesture. United in our diversity, we are stronger than forces that want to divide us.’