On Tuesday it is still one month until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Recently, the positive news piled up.
The hostile neighbours talk to each other, things are getting quieter on the doping front, and German athletes are largely on target: One month before the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea (9th place). till 25. February) positive news increases the anticipation of the games.
The reason for the improved mood is the peace summit on Tuesday with North and South Korea. For the first time since 2015, the hostile states are again exchanging views in direct talks about the participation of the North in the Games. North Korean IOC representative Chang Ung has already described this as “likely”. The reassuring thing: In such a case, there will probably be no military fires from the north during the competitions.
U. S. President Donald Trump has already been reconciliatory about North Korea,”I like it when they’re around. Maybe then other things will be possible,”Trump said. The White House confirmed that the US is sending a top-class delegation to the first winter games on the Korean peninsula – possibly with members of Trump’s family.
Representatives of both Korean states will meet on Tuesday in the demilitarized zone in the border town of Panmunjom. South Korea’s five-member delegation will be led by Secretary of Association Cho Myung Gyon. Pyongyang’s inter-Korean affairs officer, Ri Son Gwon, leads the group from the north. The conflict on the peninsula, which had been divided since 1953, has intensified in recent months as a result of military provocations from the north.
In the German camp, too, the signs of political easing are well received. A year ago, stars such as seven-time biathlon world champion Laura Dahlmeier had threatened to give up the games if the security situation in Korea continued to deteriorate. There has been no more talk of this in the end.
Instead, the German athletes delivered appealing performances, even though Richard Freitag’s spectacular fall at the Four Hills Tournament overshadowed the crowd. His team mate Andreas Wellinger made up for the damper with second place in the overall standings. In luge, German athletes lead the overall World Cups in men’s, women’s and double-seaters, while in skeleton and speed skating the media aspirants fulfilled their expectations.
In the biathlon, the DSV athletes did not reach a podium position at the home World Cup in Oberhof, but the coaches repeated like a prayer mill that the form structure was designed for the winter games. With the alpine skiers it looks rather mau after an excellent start to the season. Without the injured Felix Neureuther and Stefan Luitz (both cruciate ligament rupture) two medal candidates are missing. Viktoria Rebensburg fluctuates in her performances after a great start to the season.
The situation on the doping front around Russia has calmed down somewhat. In total, the IOC Commission of Swiss lawyer Denis Oswald banned 43 Russian athletes from the Olympic Games for life because of doping manipulations in Sochi in 2014. In contrast, dozens of Russian athletes have already been drafted before the International Sports Court CAS, a decision in these cases is still pending.
In the world’s federations, the wave of deadlocks has caused problems. The Russian skeleton and bobsleigh pilots, who are blocked for the Olympic Games, will be allowed to compete in the World Cup. The IBSF had appealed against such a decision by its own Anti-Doping Commission before the CAS, but failed with a preliminary injunction. More confusion is hardly possible.
Allegedly, Russia was supposed to learn on Monday from the IOC which athletes will receive a release for Pyeongchang. This rumour was created by Vice Premier Witali Mutko, who was also banned for life by the IOC because of his involvement in the doping scandal.