U.S. Team to Sochi; Ovechkin Cleared for Olympics

USOC Team to Sochi

Leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee are on a scouting mission to Sochi this week to prepare for the first Winter Games in Russia, now just over a year away.

CEO Scott Blackmun, marketing chief Lisa Baird and sports performance chief Alan Ashley are among the USOC team in Russia.

USOC media chief Patrick Sandusky tells Around the Rings the group is taking a look at all aspects of the operations required for the U.S. in 2014. He says location for a USA House will be one of the items on the list for this trip.

The USOC delegation has spent time at the alpine venues in Krasnaya Polyana, the coastal cluster near Sochi and will wrap up with meetings in Moscow at Sochi 2014 headquarters.

Sandusky says the USOC will mark one year to Sochi on Feb. 6 with the Today show on NBC. He says the USOC will make a bigger splash in October for 100 days to go.

Exact dates aren’t set, but the USOC Media Summit for the 2014 Games is planned for October in Park City, Utah. The summit draws hundred of press and dozens of athletes, many of whom will train on the slopes near Salt Lake City.

Ovechkin Cleared for Sochi

Owner Ted Leonsis says the Washington Capitals will release Alexander Ovechkin for the 2014 Olympics even if other NHL players are kept home from Sochi.

"I just think it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing for him to have something played in Russia," he was quoted by The Washington Post on Thursday.

"Who am I to get in the way of him wanting to fulfill that?"

His comments came a day after Ovechkin was confirmed as the first known torchbearer for Sochi 2014 – despite the lack of guarantees for NHL participation at the Games in the new collective bargaining agreement players and owners agreed to last week.

Olympics participation will instead be negotiated at a later date in discussions also involving the IOC and International Ice Hockey Federation.

Written and reported by Ed Hula.