Olympics 2018: North Korea crisis: US star Ligety believes in hosting the Winter Games

US ski racer Ted Ligety, despite the tense political situation in Korea, is firmly convinced that the Olympic Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang in 2018 “There have been tensions with North Korea for decades.The security debate has been going on for years,”said the two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion, who wants to travel to South Korea with his wife and child in February.

If the conflict were to escalate,”the fact that I can’t make it to the games would be the slightest problem,” said Ligety:”We’re talking about the death of millions of people.” No side has any interest in this scenario,”so I don’t think it will come to that.

Scott Blackmun, President of the National Olympic Committee of the United States (USOC), had previously ruled out the US team from starting.

Prior to that, concerns had been raised by France’s Ministry of Sport and the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) about sending their winter sportsmen to Pyeongchang, just 80 km from the North Korean border.Some German stars, above all ski racer Felix Neureuther and seven times biathlon world champion Laura Dahlmeier, had also voiced their concerns and thought out loud about abandoning the start if the conflict should escalate further.