Winds postpone women’s giant slalom

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The women’s giant slalom on Monday was postponed because of strong wind, the second Alpine skiing race called off at the Olympics.

The giant slalom, which was set to be U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin’s first event of these Winter Games, was put off to another day about three hours before it was scheduled to begin. A new date was not announced immediately.

The race that was supposed to open the Alpine schedule on Sunday, the men’s downhill, was moved to Thursday because of dangerous wind.

NBC offers apology

NBC apologized to South Koreans for an on-air remark by an analyst that cited Japan as an example that has been important to the country’s own transformation. South Korean officials accepted the apology.

The remark was made by analyst Joshua Cooper Ramo during NBC’S coverage of Friday’s opening ceremony. He was noting the significance of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit.

“Every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technical and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” Ramo said. Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945.

An online petition quickly circulated demanding an apology, and NBC did on its NBCSN cable network Saturday and formally to the Pyeongchang Olympic organizing committee.

Opening ceremony viewing

The opening ceremony reached 27.8 million viewers on NBC, a number that inched up to 28.3 million when digital viewers were added.

While that’s down from the 31.7 million who watched the opening ceremony in Sochi four years ago, it was 6 percent more viewers than the Summer Olympics ceremony in Rio de Janiero in 2016. NBC’S viewership peaked at 31.5 million when the U.S. team entered the stadium in South Korea.