High Winds and Event Delays Cause Concern

(ATR) Unbearable winds and event postponements dominated talk at the daily press briefing on Monday in PyeongChang.

With alpine skiing events postponed on consecutive days due to gusty winds and numerous crashes this morning at ladies snowboard slopestyle likely a result of blustery crosswinds, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams was peppered with questions about potential challenges moving forward..

The men’s downhill and ladies giant slalom have been pushed back to Thursday, Feb. 15. Winds are expected to continue on Tuesday.

"It is not that unusual – the president of the FIS was at the coordination meeting this morning and was quite relaxed," Adams said of the shuffled schedule.

Treacherous winds of up to 100 kph were reported at the top of the YongPyong giant slalom course. One snowboarder suffered an ACL tear due to a crash likely due to winds at the Phoenix Snow Park.

"Safety of the athletes is the number one priority for us," Adams said.

The IOC spokeperson re-iterated multiple times that and the IOC has absolute confidence in the decisions taken by the International Ski Federation. However, the FIS must approve schedule changes with the IOC, the POCOG and OBS.

"We defer to FIS with all technical decisions and not to bore you, but again safety of the athletes is the most important thing," he said.

Asked if the final alpine skiing event – the new, dual gender Nations team event, which many of the top racers are not keen on – could potentially be dropped in a worst-case scenario, Adams retained his theme.

"It’s only day three, its still early, come back to me on day 14."

One overzealous journalist asked if it would be possible to extend the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.

"I think it’s a little bit early too discuss that," Adams said with a wide smirk, but without a full denial. "There is plenty of time, it’s a touch premature."

The IOC spokesperson referenced ski events in Nagano 1998 being staged substantially late in the competition schedule.

Despite the substantial schedule changes and unfavorable racing conditions, Italian men’s alpine skiing race director Markus Waldner is not in panic mode just yet.

"No stress, everything under control."

More Buses Coming

Queried about concerns about traffic delays and a lack of needed buses in Gangneung, POCOG spokesperson Baik You Sung said adjustments are being made.

"There are issues with transport, that is true," Sung told journalists at the Main Media Center in PyeongChang. "We are planning to add more buses. Our organizing committee president will have a meeting this afternoon with bus contractors and stakeholders. My apologies.

"We will come up with some counter measures as soon as possible."

President Bach On the Move

Adams said that IOC president Thomas Bach was impressed with what was a dramatic men’s luge finale Sunday night at the Olympic Sliding Center.

The IOC president congratulated Austrian David Gleirscher after his surprise victory, while consoling German Felix Loch after the 2014 Olympic champion made a costly mistake in his final run that cost him a medal.

Bach is attending figure skating and biathlon on Monday.

Satisfactory Ticket Sales

According to the PyeongChang spokesperson, 84.4% of tickets have been sold for the entire Games, while 92.2% have been accounted for Monday events.

Sung offered an explanation of venues with empty seats citing the uncomfortable cold temperatures as a factor.

"Fans could be congregating in corridors or other indoor places much like at Korean baseball games," he said. "Volunteers can sit in these open seats."

Regarding empty seats at women’s hockey games at Kwandong Hockey Center, he explained: "Tickets are sold to the general public and it is limited. Of 6,000 seats, only 3,600 can be sold because of space needed for broadcasters, cameras, athletes and other dedicated seats."

Lausanne Winter Youth Olympic Games

IOC Head of the Youth Olympic Games Antoine Goetschy emphasized the continuing growth of the Winter YOG, while joined by Innsbruck YOG luger Tucker West.

"Our first aim is to support young elite athletes in career development," Goetschy said. "We also want to bring new sports and test new formats."

Goetschy noted that 224 Youth Olympians, who either competed in Innsbruck 2012 or Lillehammer 2016 are participating in PyeongChang. Fourty-eight NOC’s are represented across all seven winter sports.

Two PyeongChang 2018 gold medalists thus far - German ski jumper Andreas Wellinger and South Korean short track speed skater Hyojun Lim - are also Youth Olympians.

Goetschy said approximately 2,000 teen-aged winter sports athletes are expected to compete in Lausanne 2020, a gigantic increase from Lillehammer 2016, where approximately 1,100 competitors took to the ice and slopes.

West is competing for the U.S. in luge at his second Olympic Winter Games. He said time spent at the 2012 Innsbruck YOG were invaluable.

"These Youth Olympic Games were six years ago now, so its kind of cool to see how these athletes that I roomed with and competed against have catapulted their career," West said.

"It was an amazing event, and crazy how similar it is to these Olympics. The YOG is really an Olympic event and got me ready to go to Sochi and be on the giant stage for the first time.

"The 2012 YOG really showed me what to expect."

Written by Brian Pinelli in PyeongChang

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