As Olympics shift to sports, what on Earth just happened?

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — And now: sports.

After a weekend in which a fusillade of can’t-believe-it political surprises got the world talking about Olympicflavored international relations rather than just the thrill of victory, the 2018 Winter Games settled Sunday into what everyone came here for. At least for the moment.

In some families, they talk sports to avoid talking politics. But the two have lots in common. Both take place in arenas, actual or metaphorical. Both are, arguably, expressions of human conflict turned into competitive games with specific rules. And both are most exhilarating when they operate at the very edge of precedent.

In that respect, this was an Olympic-grade weekend of politics in Pyeongchang when it came to North Korea and South Korea, and by extension when it came to North Korea and the world. The two Koreas glad-handed and edged closer as the world watched. The United States appeared to be the odd man out, and perhaps was.

And while it’s too early to suggest that the tectonic plates of Korean Peninsula security have shifted, surely the inaugural weekend of the Pyeongchang Winter Games has already secured its spot in Olympic lore simply for its visuals. There were North and South, side by side in the opening ceremony, on the hockey ice and in the dignitaries’ box, with the U.S. looking on like a kid who didn’t get picked in the sandlot.

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