(ATR) U.S. Figure Skating Association President Sam Auxier says the team of 14 athletes that qualified for the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics will have a great competition atmosphere in South Korea.
"For figure skating, all of the events we hear are sold out and it will be fantastic," Auxier tells Around the Rings Editor Ed Hula on the latest edition of ATRadio. "In that part of the world they love figure skating. It will be just an atmosphere of real, Olympic competition."
The 14 athletes who will make the trip to PyeongChang in February were selected at the conclusion of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that took place in San Jose, California last week.
The athletes who made the team include: Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Adam Rippon, Bradie Tennell, Karen Chen and Mirai Nagasu as individuals; Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Maia and Alex Shibutani as ice dance partners; as well as Chris Knierim and Alexa Scimeca-Knierim as the sole pairs team.
Auxier expects stiff competition in South Korea, particularly from the Olympic Athletes from Russia team. He expects a strong field from the Russians despite the ban on the country’s Olympic Committee for past doping schemes.
"Figure skating was not impacted by the doping, at least at this point, we heard none of the skaters implicated," Auxier tells ATR. "Many other sports have had athletes banned for doping on the Russian side but we think all the figure skaters will be invited and it will be very competitive.
"Their uniforms may be different and we won’t see the Russian flag in the ceremony but it will be pretty much the same as it’s been forever."
The U.S. Figure Skating president also expects a full U.S. delegation in South Korea despite comments from Senator Lindsey Graham who says the U.S. should boycott the Games if the North Korean figure skating pairs team is allowed to compete.
"Well I think unless there’s some type of clear danger to the athletes, I would hope that the White House would not try to boycott the Olympics for political reasons," he says. "The other aspect, just as a U.S. citizen, the idea that we would back down just because the North Koreans are competing, that’s just not the American way.
"We’re not cowards and for Kim Jong Un, this would be an amazing public relations coup for him to say that because of him the Americans backed down. The American thing to do is to go and compete and win for the U.S. and represent the country - not to back down. That’s not what we do."
It seems there will be no shortage of storylines during the figure skating competitions in PyeongChang which will take place throughout the majority of the Games Feb. 9-25.
Listen below for the full conversation with Auxier and Hula:
Written by Kevin Nutley
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