USA TODAY International Edition
With no concerns raised, USOC on track for Games
PARK CITY, UTAH The U.S. Olympic Committee is moving ahead with preparations for the Pyeongchang Olympics in February after receiving assurances about safety on the Korean peninsula as rhetoric escalates between the United States and North Korea.
Speaking at the USOC media summit Monday, CEO Scott Blackmun said the group has been in contact with the State Department and law enforcement and met last month with the four-star general in charge of U.S forces in South Korea.
“Should the unthinkable happen and there’s conflicts between nations, that’s not an issue for the U.S. Olympic Committee to get involved in,” Blackmun said. “That becomes an issue for the IOC and our nations to make decisions on, so we’re preparing as if we’re going to go there. The USOC will go. We understand individual athletes may have questions and concerns, but our job as the national Olympic Committee for the United States (is to give them) an opportunity to go and are well supported by us while we’re there.”
Asked if the USOC had heard concerns from athletes, Blackmun said, “not a single one.”
The USOC’s assurances come after comments the French sports prime minister made that the country’s athletes would not participate if their safety cannot be guaranteed drew attention last week. USOC chairman Larry Probst said the head of the French national Olympic Committee walked that back and said it’s “highly likely” French athletes will participate.
The IOC sought to quell concerns, saying, “We are in close contact with the heads of government concerned and the United Nations over the past months, and in none of the discussions has anybody expressed any doubt about the Olympic Games 2018.”
The rhetoric between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have escalated in recent weeks. At the United Nations General Assembly last week, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the United States has to defend itself or its allies. Kim responded by calling Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.”
The Olympics are Feb. 9-25, with Pyeongchang 50 miles from North Korea.
The USOC is in regular contact with the State Department, and Nicole Deal, its new chief security officer, recently retired from the State Department.
The U.S. Olympic Committee is getting the same information other Americans in South Korea are getting.
“There’s no travel restrictions in place right now,” he said. “Should that change, I’m sure we’ll be among the first to know that. But they don’t anticipate any changes.”