IOC downplays emails that threaten attack

THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee on Wednesday insisted a series of email messages sent to several national sports organizations, including the U.S. Olympic Committee, did not constitute a genuine threat.

“It contains no threat and appears to be a random message from a member of the public,” IOC spokesperson Sandrine Tonge told CNN.

This seemed to be in direct contradiction, however, with reports from other national sports agencies. The Hungarian Olympic Committee reported the message suggested “there might be a terrorist attack” against Hungarian nationals, and that members of the team “may be blown up.” Olympic committees from the U.S., Hungary, Slovenia and Italy confirmed receiving emails with vague, anonymous threats aimed to- ward athletes and visitors heading to Russia.

“The committee has received a terrorist threat letter written in Russian,” Slovenian spokesman Brane Dmitrovic told Reuters. “We’ve had it translated and have forwarded it to the police.”

The USOC reported the message to enforcement officials. Hungarian committee chairman Zsolt Borkai reported the threats to the IOC and to Russian authorities. Bence Szabo, secretary general of the HOC, told Nemzeti Sport, a daily paper in Hungary, that the IOC already had received a threatening message of its own, and had begun an investigation.

“The information is true, unfortunately,” Szabo said. “A letter written in Russian and English was received at the HOC’s international email account, threatening the Hungarian delegation to Sochi with terrorist acts. They also told us we had better stay home.”