Georgia PM Might Attend Sochi; Taekwondo Elections; Grammys Moved

Georgian PM Mulls Attending Sochi Olympics

The prime minister of Georgia is considering attending next year's Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi, he announced Tuesday.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had mooted a boycott in the wake of the country's brief war with Russia over the South Ossetia breakaway region in 2008, but that talk has since been quashed by his bitter opponent Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

"I haven't received an official invitation," Ivanishvili said. "I don't know if I'll go to the Olympic Games. We will see how our relations will develop. I do not rule out that I might go there."

Formal diplomatic relations are yet to be fully restored since the conflict, but ties have thawed in recent years.

The Games will be held in Sochi, near Russia’s border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia, which Georgia claims as part of its territory but Russia considers independent. Russia maintains a large military presence in Abkhazia.

Published by exclusive arrangement with RIA Novosti, host news agency of Sochi 2014.

Crowded Field for Taekwondo Elections

More than 40 candidates from five continents will run in elections of the World Taekwondo Federation.

That includes two for president – Korean incumbent Chungwon Choue and countryman Moon-Jong Hong – as well as three for vice president - Ahmed Mohamed Fouly of Egypt, Kamaladdin Heydarov of Azerbaijan and Sun Jae Park of Italy.

Another 34 candidates will stand for the WTF Council and two for the position of WTF Auditor on the sidelines of the World Taekwondo Championships in Puebla, Mexico on July 14.

"The Ad-hoc Election Committee has done an in-depth, thorough review of all of the applicants," WTF Ad-hoc Election Committee Chairperson Ivan Dibos said Monday in a statement.

"The committee members are an exceptional group and have done an incredible job at taking an objective look at all of the materials," added the IOC member from Peru.

All elections are for the 2013-2017 quadrennial.

To view the complete list of candidates, click here.

Grammys Moved for Games

The Recording Academy announced the 2014 Grammy Awards will take place Jan 26. The awards are usually scheduled for February when they would go head-to-head with the Olympics for television ratings.

With Monday’s announcement, the Grammys become the second major award ceremony to change dates because of the Sochi Olympics. The Oscars announced earlier they would also take place in January of 2014.

In 2015, the Grammys will return to a normal date, Feb. 8, organizers announced.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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