DON’T WEAR YOUR GB KIT
TEAM GB athletes have been warned to wear low-key kit when travelling to the Winter Olympics in Sochi due to security concerns. Security is a major worry at the 22nd Winter Olympics, with UK officials warning just days ago that more terrorist attacks were ‘very likely’ before or during the Games. The British Olympic Association told the country’s delegation of 56 athletes and 64 staff to travel in discreet clothing that is ‘less overtly branded’ as they make their way to Russia. Though athletes will arrive in smaller groups, travelling from various events and training camps around the world, a universal warning was issued to the team. Britain joins other countries, including the USA, in warning its athletes to dress down as they make their way to the Games, while France’s delegation will receive extra protection from the French national police. More than 30,000 police and interior ministry troops are being deployed in one of the biggest security operations in Olympic history as the Russian authorities look to prevent disruption. Sochi lies on the western edge of the North Caucasus, a mainly Muslim area that is the scene of an Islamist insurgency. Imarat Kavkaz, a militant group, has expressed a desire to disrupt the Games while two suicide bomb attacks killed 34 people in December in the city of Volgograd, 400 miles from Sochi. The International Olympic Committee, however, insists Russia will deliver a ‘safe and secure’ Olympic Games.