Winter Olympics

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This Olympian Will Represent His Country Alone

Arif Khan, 31, is sole athlete from India

(Newser) - The US is sending 222 athletes to the 2022 Winter Olympics. India is sending just one. NPR reports 31-year-old skier Arif Khan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and is scheduled to compete in the slalom and giant slalom events later this week. As long as he manages to stay COVID-free,...

China Warns Athletes Against Speaking Out at Olympics

'Certain punishment' awaits, official says

(Newser) - The Winter Olympics in Beijing kick off in a little over two weeks—and China has issued a stern warning to athletes who might be thinking about supporting calls to free Tibet or liberate Hong Kong. Yang Shu, deputy director general of international relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said...

N. Korea Skipping Olympics 'Due to Hostile Forces'

Pyongyang also cited the pandemic

(Newser) - North Korea on Friday said it would skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the COVID-19 pandemic and "hostile forces' moves," a largely redundant statement since the country has already been banned from the Games by the IOC. In September, the International Olympic Committee suspended North Korea...

After Getting Visa Applications, China Questions US Boycott

Biden administration says it's sending help for athletes and coaches, but not diplomats

(Newser) - Given that the Biden administration earlier this month announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, China is asking why it's receiving visa applications for US government employees. That can be explained, the US answered: Those applications are for consular and security officers—not diplomats or high-ranking officials, the...

Report: NHL Is Pulling Out of the Olympics
NHL Confirms Players
Won't Be Going to Olympics
UPDATED

NHL Confirms Players Won't Be Going to Olympics

COVID disruptions mean going to Beijing is now unfeasible, commissioner says

(Newser) - Update: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Wednesday that players would not be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics, making official what seemed inevitable in recent days when a rash of positive COVID-19 test results caused several teams to shut down, the AP reports. The league will use the previously...

US Confirms Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Games

White House cites 'ongoing genocide' in Xinjiang

(Newser) - The US government will protest China's human rights abuses with a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, meaning American athletes will go to Beijing but President Biden and other officials will stay away, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Monday. The Biden administration will not be sending...

Report: US Officials to Turn Their Backs on Winter Olympics

Sources say diplomatic boycott of Beijing Games has been formally recommended to Biden

(Newser) - The Biden administration is likely planning a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics in February in response to human rights abuses in China, according to a report. Several sources tell Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin that a formal recommendation has been made to President Biden that the US refrain from...

Winter Games Won't Have Foreign Fans

Beijing athletes will live and compete in a bubble

(Newser) - The International Olympic Committee has revealed the first of its planned measures against COVID-19 at the upcoming Winter Games in Beijing, and they're at least as restrictive as the rules were for the summer competition. Again, the prohibition against foreign spectators will apply to athletes' friends and relatives, USA ...

Calgary Residents on 2026 Olympics: That's a Hard No

Vote was nonbinding, but it looks like city's bid will be nixed

(Newser) - "Does Calgary really want the Winter Olympics? Does anyone?" That's the question posed by the New York Times on Monday, and it looks like the first question has just been answered. The AP reports that, in a nonbinding referendum held Tuesday, 56% of voters (more than 170,000...

Olympics Ratings Are Significantly Down

And that could be bad news for NBC

(Newser) - Was NBC's $12 billion investment in the Olympics a good idea? Based on the ratings from the Pyeongchang games, it's not clear. Viewership in the coveted 18-49 demographic is down 24% compared to the winter games in Sochi four years ago, CNN reports, though NBC points out it'...

Curtain Goes Down on Pyeongchang
Pyeongchang 
Games Are Closed 

Pyeongchang Games Are Closed

Olympic flag has passed to Beijing after a very political Winter Olympics

(Newser) - The president of the International Olympic Committee has declared the Pyeongchang Games closed, reports the AP , marking the end of this year's Winter Olympics. Thomas Bach made the declaration during closing ceremonies held before tens of thousands on the eastern end of the Korean Peninsula. As part of the...

S. Korea: N. Korea Willing to Talk to US

Unlikely announcement amid Winter Olympics' closing ceremonies

(Newser) - The South Korean president's office says a North Korean delegate to the Olympics has said Pyongyang is willing to hold talks with the US, reports the AP . The Blue House, South Korea's presidential office, reported the news during the games' closing ceremony. The North has "ample intentions...

Second Russian Athlete Flunks Doping Test
US Medal Haul Is
Well Below Expectations
THE RUNDOWN

US Medal Haul Is Well Below Expectations

But US Curling 'rejects' have a shot at gold

(Newser) - Bad news for Russian hopes of marching under their own flag: The BBC reports that the Russian Bobsleigh Federation says Nadezhda Sergeeva, 30, has tested positive for a banned heart drug. Sergeeva, the second Russian to test positive for a banned substance, placed 12th in the two-woman bobsleigh event on...

Skater Nearly Booted for Slacking Off Wins Gold

Alina Zagitova finished ahead of compatriot, 18

(Newser) - A few years back, Alina Zagitova nearly was sent home from training for not working hard enough. Now, she heads home with Olympic gold, the first for the Russians at the Pyeongchang Olympics. A grateful nation—upset that their flag, anthem, and dozens of athletes were banned from the games...

Vonn Completes Her Other Goal in South Korea

She scattered some of her grandpa's ashes near the downhill ski course

(Newser) - Lindsey Vonn came to South Korea with the goal of taking home an Olympic medal and leaving something even more special behind. She did both. The American ski great said Thursday she recently scattered some of the ashes of her grandfather, who served during the Korean War, on a rock...

In Vonn&#39;s Last Race, Shiffrin Takes the Medal
Vonn Fails to Finish
Final Olympic Race
THE RUNDOWN

Vonn Fails to Finish Final Olympic Race

Mikaela Shiffrin won the silver in same race

(Newser) - The slalom portion of the women's Alpine combined was the last race of American star Lindsay Vonn's Olympic career—but the medal went to teammate Mikaela Shiffrin. The 22-year-old won silver after Vonn went off course just 10 seconds into her slalom on Thursday, the AP reports. This...

US Wins First Hockey Gold in 20 Years

USA women beat Canada in tiebreaker shootout

(Newser) - The United States has beaten Canada in a shootout to win their first Olympic gold since 1998 in women's hockey. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored in the first extra round of the first shootout tiebreaker in Olympic women's hockey history on Thursday to give the United States the gold medal...

US Scores First-Ever Cross Country Gold
US Women Pull Off
Major Olympic Upset
THE RUNDOWN

US Women Pull Off Major Olympic Upset

Lindsay Vonn takes bronze in final Olympic downhill

(Newser) - The American women's cross-country ski team pulled off a major upset in Pyeongchang Wednesday, winning gold in the team sprint—the first-ever medal for the US women's team. The only other American to win a cross-country ski medal was Bill Koch, who won silver in the 30-kilometer race...

The 'Mediocre' Skier Raising Eyebrows at the Olympics

Elizabeth Swaney didn't do any tricks on her halfpipe run, deliberately

(Newser) - On the surface, there's nothing at all ordinary or subpar about a 33-year-old Berkeley and Harvard grad who's competing with the best of the best at the Olympics. Yet Elizabeth Swaney has caused a hubbub in Pyeongchang, after turning in what Digg labels a "hilariously mediocre" ski...

Speedskater for N. Korea Has a Really Rough Race

Jong Kwang Bom crashes—twice

(Newser) - In his defense, Jong Kwang Bom is only 17 and "clearly" had no business lining up to race as an Olympic speedskater for North Korea, per a post at USA Today . But race he did, and things did not end well. Jong fell almost immediately after the start of...

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