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South Korea is preparing to host its first Winter Olympics when the 2018 edition gets underway in PyeongChang in February.The Games will be made up of 15 sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short-track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating. Curling and ski jumping get going before the opening ceremony in PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on 9 February. The Games wrap up on 25 February with the women's curling gold medal match and the men's ice hockey gold medal match.The two Koreas will field a combined women's ice hockey team and march together under one flag at next month's Winter Olympics in the South, Seoul said on Wednesday, after a new round of talks amid a thaw in cross-border ties.North and South Korea have been talking since last week - for the first time in more than two years - about the Olympics, offering a respite from a months-long standoff over Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear and missile programmes, although Japan urged caution over the North's "charm offensive".The two Koreas will compete as a unified team in the Olympics for the first time, though they have joined forces at other international sports events before.North Korea will send a delegation of more than 400, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration, a joint press statement released by Seoul's unification ministry said, adding the precise number of athletes will be hammered out after discussions with the IOC.Prior to the Games, the sides will carry out joint training for skiers at the North's Masik Pass resort and a cultural event at the Mount Kumgang resort, for which Seoul officials plan to visit the sites next week.The delegation is expected to begin arriving in South Korea on Jan. 25, the statement said.The North will separately send a 150-strong delegation to the Paralympics. Twenty nations meeting in the Canadian city of Vancouver agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the North it could trigger a military response if it did not choose dialogue.Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the world should not be naive about North Korea's "charm offensive" over the Olympics."It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea," Kono said. "The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working."North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. The North has fired test-fired missiles over Japan.In state media this week, the North warned the South of spoiling inter-Korean ties by insisting it gives up its nuclear weapons."We will work actively to improve North-South Korean relations but will not stand still to actions that are against unification," the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

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The South's Unification Ministry said the two sides exchanged opinions on several issues, including the size of the North Korean athletics team and joint cultural events.Seoul has proposed a joint ice hockey team, which triggered an angry response from athletes in the South suddenly being told they may have to play alongside total strangers."I don't know if it will happen, but a joint team will be a good opportunity for ice hockey to shed its sorrow as a less-preferred sport as many Koreans will take interest," South Korean President Moon Jae-in told players during a visit to a training centre.The number of petitions to the presidential Blue House's website opposing a unified team climbed to more than 100 this week, with the most popular petition gaining more than 11,000 votes."This isn't the same as gluing a broken plate together," said one of the signers.Paik Hak-soon, the director of the Centre for North Korean studies at Sejong Institute in South Korea, said North Korea was using the cheering squad to draw attention to its apparent cooperative spirit."Seeing good results in competitions thanks to the cheering squad would enable the North Koreans to say they contributed to a successful Olympics and the South Korean government would likely agree," said Paik."In the end, they are using this old tactic to get to Washington through Seoul."On Tuesday, officials from North and South agreed a 140-person North Korean orchestra would perform in South Korea during the Games. Pyongyang is also planning to send a large delegation in addition to the athletes and orchestra.Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South, Japan and their major ally, the United States.China, which did not attend the Vancouver meeting, said on Wednesday the gathering showed a Cold War mentality and would only undermine a settlement of the North Korea problem. The International Ice Hockey Federation has expressed support for the creation of a unified inter-Korean women's ice hockey team for the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a US broadcaster reported Friday.The two Koreas agreed at their working-level talks on Wednesday to field the joint squad at the Feb. 9-25 Games. The International Olympic Committee will review the agreement and determine the size of the unified roster on Saturday. South Korea hopes the roster will be expanded to as many as 35 from the already-set 22, after adding some North Korean players. The world's ice hockey governing body said that the joint team positively reflects an Olympic ideal of realizing social development and peace through sports, particularly considering the division of the Korean Peninsula, Voice of America said, citing an e-mail from the organization.But the IIHF refused to comment on the expansion of the roster, saying it will announce its stance on the issue after the IOC makes its final decision, according to the broadcaster.Meanwhile, the IOC said in an e-mail the same day that there are many things to review in relation to the inter-Korean proposal, as it will have effect on other national Olympic committees and athletes, the broadcaster said.On Wednesday, Janos Kick, head of communications for the Switzerland Ice Hockey Federation, told Yonhap News Agency, "In terms of sports and for all teams who invest a lot of money and resources in their women's teams, we are not in favor of this (a unified Korea team) since it's not fair and distorts competition."

Sixth-ranked Switzerland is 22nd-ranked South Korea's first opponent in Group B, which also includes Sweden and Japan. (Yonhap)With no participation from the National Hockey League and a women’s team vying for gold, Team USA announced its rosters for its ice hockey teams competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics.The highly anticipated rosters were announced Monday at an intermission during the 2018 Winter Classic and come ahead of the first Winter Olympics the NHL has not participated in since 1994. That means the men’s ice hockey team competing in Pyeongchang, South Korea is a combination of former NHL players, minor league players and college athletes.“Obviously from a selection process it’s been a battle for us on all the players we have available to us,” said Tony Granato, the men’s team coach said Monday.He continued, “I think we’ve put together an outstanding group of players that will represent us well come February and give us a great chance to do really well and compete for a medal.”The men’s team captain is Brian Gionta, who played for the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL until 2017, when he moved to an American Hockey League club and could therefore play for Team USA. Gionta was the U.S.’s top scorer in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, where the U.S. lost in the quarterfinals.On the women’s side, many of Team USA’s key players like Brianna Decker and Meghan Duggan will return with the goal of earning women’s ice hockey first gold medal in 20 years. While Team USA has medaled every year since women’s ice hockey was added as an Olympic sport in 1998, the U.S. has fallen repeatedly to Canada in the battle for gold.In 2014, Team USA lost to Canada in the final round 3-2, earning silver.“We had to figure out what we were made of, what we wanted to accomplish over these last couple of years, and really put ourselves in a position to achieve the goal we want to achieve as a program and as a team and as a country going into this next Olympics,” Duggan said Monday.“We’re excited,” she added. “We’ve got the right group.”USA Hockey announced today the rosters for its 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Teams and 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team during the second intermission of the NHL Winter Classic at Citi Field in New York City.“We’re excited about all three of our teams and the chance to compete for gold,” said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey. “There’s no bigger stage than the Olympics and Paralympics and I know our teams will represent our country extremely well in PyeongChang."The men’s roster includes 15 players with NHL experience, led by Brian Gionta (Rochester, N.Y.), who will serve as team captain of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. Gionta has played 1,006 regular-season games and captained both the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres in his career. He is the lone player on the U.S. roster with Olympic experience, having played for Team USA in 2006.“We really like our roster,” said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. “It’s a group that brings versatility and experience and includes players who have a lot of passion about representing our country.”The U.S. has won 11 medals in the Olympic Winter Games, including gold in 1960 and 1980.The opening game for the U.S. men in the in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games is set for Feb. 14 against Slovenia.The women’s roster features 23 players, including 10 returning Olympians and six two-time Olympians (2010, 2014) in Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.), captain Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.), Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho), Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.), Monique Lamoureux-Morando (Grand Forks, N.D.) and Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn.“Today we took another step closer towards achieving our ultimate goal, which is to bring home a gold medal from South Korea,” said Reagan Carey, general manager of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team and also the director of women’s hockey for USA Hockey, “We’ve had an exceptional four months in Wesley Chapel leading up to this point and are confident that these 23 women give our country the best opportunity to reach the top of the podium in February.”The U.S. has medaled in all five Olympic Winter Games since women’s ice hockey was introduced in 1998, including gold in that inaugural year.The U.S. women open Olympic play on Feb. 11 against Finland.The 17-player sled roster includes 10 players with Paralympic experience, led by captain Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.), alternate captains Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) and Nikko Landeros (Johnstown, Colo.) and goaltender Steve Cash (Overland, Mo.). All four were members of the gold medal-winning 2014 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.As a whole, this team has all the ingredients to be successful,” said Dan Brennan, director of sled hockey for USA Hockey and general manager of the 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team. “We’re going to be a fast-paced, puck-moving team that is led by a great core of veterans who knows what it takes to win.”

The U.S. has medaled in four of the five Paralympic Winters Games it has competed in, with gold medals in 2014, 2010, and 2002 and a bronze medal in 2006.The 2018 Paralympic Winter Games begin March 9 in PyeongChang, South Korea.Jim Johannson, the general manager of the 2018 U.S. Olympic men’s ice hockey team and a two-time Olympian, has died, USA Hockey said on Sunday. He was 53.The assistant executive director of hockey operations with USA Hockey, Johannson was part of the management team for every Olympic Games since 2002 and served on the U.S. staff for 18 world championship teams.In building the teams that achieved so much success for USA Hockey, Jim Johannson had a sharp eye for talent, a strong sense of chemistry and a relentless pursuit of excellence," National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement."The NHL family's respect for Jim's contributions to hockey, at all levels, is exceeded only by our shock and sorrow over his sudden passing."Johannson died in his sleep early on Sunday morning at his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Hockey said."He was so compassionate and as loyal a friend as you could have," said Tony Granato, who will coach the U.S. team at next month's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. "He was the ultimate team mate."Johannson twice played for the U.S. in the Winter Olympic Games (1988 and 1992) and was a member of the American team at the 1992 world championship.We are beyond shocked and profoundly saddened,” said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey. “As accomplished as Jim was in hockey, he was the absolute best, most humble, kind and caring person you could ever hope to meet."Jim Johannson, general manager of the United States Olympic men's hockey team, has died unexpectedly, it was announced today.The 53-year-old Johannson was due to lead the US team at Pyeongchang 2018 after helping select the team.He died in his sleep this morning. USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher claimed they are "beyond shocked and profoundly saddened" by the news. "As accomplished as Jim was in hockey, he was the absolute best, most humble, kind and caring person you could ever hope to meet," Kelleher said."His impact on our sport and more importantly the people and players in our sport have been immeasurable. "Our condolences go out to his entire family, but especially to his loving wife Abby and their young daughter Ellie."Johannson had played for the US at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary and Albertville.  We lost a true friend in Jim Johannson today," US coach and 1988 Olympic teammate Tony Granato said. "He was so compassionate and as loyal a friend as you could have. "He was the ultimate teammate."Johannson began working for USA Hockey in 2000 after spending five years as the general manager of the Twin Cities Vulcans in the United States Hockey League. He was promoted to assistant executive director of hockey operations in 2007, overseeing its teams preparations for international competition."We mourn the tragic and untimely loss of Jim Johannson, who has been one of the most prominent figures in American hockey for decades, both as a player and an administrator," Scott Blackmun, the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, said. "He will be acutely missed at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games by the team he assembled, the international hockey community and the global Olympic family. "We offer our deepest condolences to his family - and all those who knew him - at this difficult time."The US is due to open its Olympic ice hockey campaign at Pyeongchang 2018 with a match against Slovenia on February 14. South Korea has proposed fielding a joint women’s ice hockey team with North Korea at next month’s Winter Olympics, days after Pyongyang agreed to send a large delegation to the Games.South Korea’s vice-minister for sport, Roh Tae-kang, said the two sides had discussed an inter-Korean ice hockey team during talks on Tuesday – the first high-level contact between the neighbours for more than two years.Japanese kayaker banned eight years for spiking rival's drink. They also discussed having athletes from both countries march together at the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games, which begin on 9 February.North Korea has yet to respond to the joint-team proposal.Media reports said North and South Korean officials would continue their discussions on Olympic arrangements on Monday in Panmunjom.They will also attend a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne on 20 January to discuss the size of the North Korean delegation, the number of athletes and details such as where the North Korean flag should be displayed, Yonhap news agency said.It would not be the first time the two Koreas have fielded joint teams. In 1991, they joined forces at the World Table Tennis championships and the football under-20 World Cup. But they have never fielded a joint team at a multi-discipline sports event such as the Olympics.

Roh said he would seek IOC support for the ice hockey proposal and hoped other countries taking part in the competition would give a unified Korean team their blessing.He added that an all-Korea ice hockey team should not force any South Korean players to lose their place in the existing squad to accommodate their North Korean teammates.Instead, the South Korean authorities are expected to seek permission to expand the size of its squad from the existing 23 players to 35.Hopes of North Korean participation in Pyeongchang rose after the regime’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said on New Year’s Day he was willing to discuss sending athletes.At last week’s inter-Korean talks, the North agreed to send a delegation comprising athletes, officials, journalists and members of the country’s all-female cheerleading troupe.It isn’t clear which North Korean athletes will take advantage of wildcard entries reportedly under consideration by the IOC.The figure skating pair Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik were the only North Korean athletes to qualify but missed the deadline to register for their event.Seoul has no plans to push for a joint Korean team in sports other than women's hockey at the upcoming Winter Olympics, a sports ministry official said Monday.The official, on the condition of anonymity, rejected media reports on the government's hopes for a unified Korean team in figure skating's team event and even in bobsleigh at the PyeongChang Winter Games."We've never considered the idea in those two sports, and we never will," the official said.Earlier this month, Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang is located, proposed having North Korean skaters alongside South Koreans in figure skating's team event. The North Korean pairs duo of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik, who qualified for the Olympics but missed a deadline to confirm their participation in PyeongChang, were the logical choice. But their participation in the team event would have to come at the expense of a South Korean pairs team, Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan.There were reports of a joint Korean training in bobsleigh, but it was also shot down.Instead, South Korea is pursuing a unified Korean team in women's hockey. It made the proposal during high-level inter-Korean talks last Tuesday, but North Korea didn't immediately respond to it. The proposal was only revealed last Friday.The two Koreas are expected to meet sometime this week on further working-level talks on North Korea's participation in PyeongChang 2018, the first Winter Olympics to take place in South Korea.Separately, the International Olympic Committee has scheduled a four-party meeting for Saturday at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, with representatives from PyeongChang's Olympic organizing committee and the two Koreas' respective national Olympic committees. IOC President Thomas Bach will chair the meeting, which will discuss the North's participation and the joint team in women's hockey.South Korea is seeking cooperation from both the IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation to expand its roster from 23 to more than 30, so that South Korean players won't lose their spots.Even if South Korea gets its wish and adds a few North Korean players to the team without cutting any South Koreans, the situation may still force some South Korean players to sit out some games as healthy scratches, since only 22 players can be on the bench at once.It also remains to be seen whether South Korea's opponents in the group stage, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan, would agree to having one country carry extra players. (Yonhap)South Korea is looking into the possibility of a shared women’s ice hockey team with North Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics after talks between the two nations this week.North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it will send a delegation of athletes to the Olympics, which take place in Pyeongchang next month, despite the two countries technically still being at war.During the talks, which are the first to take place between the North and South in more than two years, South Korea’s second vice-minister for tradition, sports activities and tourism brought up the possibility of combining the women’s ice hockey team.The offer has not been confirmed by North Korea officials yet, but they have announced that a delegation will be sent to compete at the Winter Olympics – including a ‘cheering squad’ – in what is seen as a major step forwards in improving relations between the two nations.An offer has also been made by the South to have both countries’ athletes walk into the Opening Ceremony together under a unified flag, although like the ice hockey proposal, a resolution has not yet been reached.The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place from February 9 to 25, 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea.The host city was announced on July 6 2011 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), beating Munich (Germany) and Annecy (France). The 2018 Games will be South Korea's second Olympics and the Republic's first Winter Games after hosting the Summer Games in 1988. PyeongChang will also be the third Asian city to host the Winter Games after Japanese cities Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.  A total of 90 teams have qualified at least one athlete to compete in this year's Winter Olympics, with 89 countries and the delegation from Russia taking part under the IOC flag. Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, and Singapore are also scheduled to make their Winter Olympics debut.With the official Olympics schedule being released late last year, it was revealed that the competition for the 2018 Winter Games will begin on Thursday, February 8 with mixed doubles curling and ski jumping events starting on this day.  The opening ceremonies will be held on Friday, February 9 and the closing ceremonies on Sunday, February 25 after the traditional finale of the men's ice hockey final that will share the billing with curling and cross-country skiing.

Both opening and closing ceremonies are expected to be held PyeongChang Olympic Stadium which is a temporary structure with a capacity for 35,000 fans.Where are the Winter Olympics?The 2018 Winter Olympics will be hosted in PyeongChang in South Korea, a city 80 miles east of capital Seoul and 60 miles south of the Demilitarised Zone separating South and North Korea. This will be South Korea's second time hosting the Olympics after Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988.This Winter Olympics will see a total of 102 gold medal events, the most ever contested at an Olympic Winter Games.There are a total of 15 varied disciplines across the seven sports in the Winter Olympics competition that include traditional events like the bobsleigh, figure skating, ice hockey, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboard and speed skating.Are there any new events for the 2018 Winter Olympics?The programme for PyeongChang 2018 includes six new events: snowboard big air (men's and women's), speed skating mass start (men's and women's), curling mixed doubles and the Alpine team event.The Winter Olympics schedule reveals that short track and speed skating sessions will take place in the evening, as well as the luge, ski jumping and biathlon which will occur under floodlights.All Alpine skiing competitions will be held in the day so that spectators are able to attend many events in one day and will be split between two venues. The speed events (downhill, Super-G and combined) will take place at the Jeongseong Alpine Centre and the technical events (giant slalom, slalom and the new team competition) at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre.What will the Winter Olympics medals look like?The PyeongChang 2018 medals have been created by designer Lee Suk-woo with a texture that resembles tree trunks, a symbol of the development of Korean culture and the work put into the Games themselves. The medals also feature diagonal lines and three-dimensional Korean alphabet consonants that stretch across the face. Overall, a total of 259 sets of medals have been cast for the Winter Olympics and the gold medal weighs the most at 586 grams.How to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics. PyeongChang 2018 will be broadcast on BBC TV, Eurosport and digital platforms in the UK and on NBC and online for those in the US. The time difference for South Korea is nine hours ahead of London and 14 hours ahead of New York. What is the mascot for the 2018 Winter Olympics?The 2018 Winter Olympics mascot is Soohorang, a white tiger, chosen because of the tiger's association with Korean mythology and culture and is a symbol of trust, strength and protection.Will North Korea be competing?Despite backlash, it was announced that North Korea would be sending a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games after officials met for high-level talks for the first time in two years. This delegation will include supporters, art performers, observers, a taekwondo demonstration team, journalists and athletes, who intend on marching with South Korea at the opening ceremony as they did in 2006.  The talks between North and South Korea were held in the Demilitarised Zone, otherwise known as the Panmumjom 'peace village' and five senior officials from each side attended. This came after Kim Jong-un revealed he was considering sending a North Korean team to the Olympics this year and the talks were scheduled after the US and South Korea agreed to delay their joint military exercises until after PyeongChang 2018. Will Russia be competing?In February Russia was banned from taking part in the Winter Olympics due to 'systematic manipulation' of anti-doping rules, according to the IOC. However, Russian athletes who can provide evidence that they are clean, will be 'invited' and will compete under the name 'Olympic Athlete from Russia* (OAR).Which British athletes are competing?Team Great Britain are expected to bring back more medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze) than they did from the Sochi 2014 Games. With short track speed skater Elise Christie winning three gold medals and one bronze at the 2017 World Championships, she could become the first British athlete to win more than one medal at a Winter Games.Lizzy Yarnold could become the first British athlete to defend a Winter Olympic title after her gold medal win in Sochi, while freestyle skiers James Woods and Isabel Atkin have the potential to win Britain's first ever medals on skis. Katie Ormerod and Billy Morgan could win medals for snowboarding as well as the Team GB women's curling team, led by Eve Muirhead, that won world bronze last year.Which US athletes are competing?

Team USA snowboarder Jamie Anderson stole the show at Sochi 2014 where she earned a gold medal in the slopestyle snowboarding event and Kelly Clark will also return, renowned as one of the most celebrated American snowboarders in history.  Nathan Chen is also one to watch after becoming the first male figure skater to ever land five quadruple jumps in a single performance, in addition to skater Adam Rippon, who has qualified for the first time this year.Which Australian athletes are competing?Snowboarder Jarryd Hughes will be returning to the Winter Olympics this year after ranking number two on the FIS World Cup Ranking, but finishing in 17th place at Sochi 2014.Matilda Friend will be joining her ice dance partner William Badaoui to realise their Olympic dreams and skier Britt Cox, the youngest athlete at the 2010 Games at age 15, will be the one to beat at PyeongChang 2018.Where and when did the first Winter Games take place?PyeongChang 2018 will be the 23rd Winter Olympics. The first ever Winter Games took place in 1924 in Chamonix, France after the IOC decided that there should be a separate 'International Winter Sports Week'. The Games were a success with more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competing in the five sports: bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing and skating.Where will future Olympic Games be held?After the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Summer Games will be held in Tokyo in 2020. The next Winter Games will be held in Beijing in 2022 and it has been decided that the next Summer Olympics will be in Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.Switzerland — The 22 North Korean athletes now invited to compete at the Winter Olympics next month are unlikely to bring home any medals across the border from South Korea.Of all the athletes given late entries in five sports, only the figure skating pair met the qualifying standard on merit.North Korea’s wait for a first Winter Games medal since 1992 is expected to continue.Still, the deal confirmed Saturday is a big win for the International Olympic Committee and officials north and south of the Korean border.Here is a look at the athletes heading to the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Olympics:The most symbolic and emotive of the North Korean entries.The 23 players on South Korea’s roster will now have 12 North Koreans added three weeks before their opening game against Switzerland.South Korea never qualified for the tournament since women’s ice hockey joined the Winter Games program in 1998. It placed fourth at the 2017 Asian Winter Games.As the host nation, it got an automatic entry despite being the No. 22-ranked nation in an 8-team lineup where No. 9 Japan is the next lowest-ranked.North Korea is currently No. 25, and has been promised to have at least three players ready for action in a 22-player active roster for each game.South Korea’s coach, Sarah Murray of Canada, will select the team, and be joined on her staff by one official from the North Korean Olympic body, the IOC said.Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik won bronze in pairs at the 2017 Asian Winter Games held last February. It was North Korea’s only medal at the 64-event competition in Sapporo, Japan.At their world championships debut weeks later, in Helsinki, Finland, they finished 15th ahead of pairs from traditionally strong skating nations.They skated to music by The Beatles and Tchaikovsky but declined to talk about their choices with reporters.Their Olympic qualification was confirmed in September by placing sixth at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.However, the team did not enter the pair by the International Skating Union (ISU) deadline.They have been trained by Montreal-based coach Bruno Marcotte who conveys instructions via a translator.The IOC has granted places to two North Korean skaters in short track races.Jong Kwang Bom will enter the men’s 1,500 meters and Choe Un Song is in the 500. Neither has a formal biography in the athletes section of the ISU website.Two men and one woman from North Korea have been found places in giant slalom and slalom.They should blend in easily. Olympic races through the technical gates typically have around 100 starters and many come from countries never seen on the top-tier World Cup circuit. Recall that pop violinist Vanessa-Mae skied for Thailand in giant slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.The three North Koreans have little track record in racing, according to International Ski Federation (FIS) archives.Choe Myong Gwang is listed as age 28 with only two results in the last seven seasons. He raced in super-G races in Iran last March on the third-tier FIS level. He placed 10th of 11 and last of 11.Kang Song Il, aged 23, competed in junior races in Iran six years ago, the FIS archive says.The female athlete, Kim Ryon-hyang, is 25 and also raced at Darbandsar, Iran, last March. She finished eighth of 10 starters and 10th of 11.North Korea will have two racers in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle, and one in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle. All raced in Apatity, Russia last April, according to FIS.Han Chun Gyong placed 90th of 92 finishers, and Pak Il Chol was 92nd. Both are listed as members of the Photaesan club.In a women’s race in Russia, 18-year-old Ri Yong-gum from the Jangjasan club was last of 83 finishers.Olympic ice hockey is a cornerstone event at any Winter Games.In 2018, the dynamic of the draw shifts without NHL players for the first time in 24 years, but for Hockey Canada, medal expectations at Pyeongchang in both the men's and women's tournaments are high as ever. The Games remain appointment viewing for diehard hockey fans and casual Olympic followers alike.The Canadian women begin play first Feb. 11 against the Olympic Athletes of Russia. The men follow Feb. 15 with their preliminary opener against Switzerland.A 14-hour time difference between South Korea and Eastern Standard Time means most hockey games are scheduled to be played during early morning hours in Canada, a slight inconvenience for viewers. A few exceptions include the much-anticipated rematch between the Canadian women and rival United States — an early schedule highlight. All of the Canadian men's games are scheduled to air live late in primetime.CBC partnered with Rogers and Bell to broadcast the 2018 Games, meaning Canadian cable and internet subscribers with access to CBC, Sportsnet and TSN will have access to watching every event live. CBC is expected to host most of the top-tier events, include men's and women's ice hockey.

Live broadcast times (all Eastern) are listed below and will be updated with additional viewing details when a final television schedule is announced.Soon after South Korea was awarded the 2018 Winter Olympics, Marissa Brandt sent an e-mail to the country’s ice hockey federation. If they needed talent for their fledgling team, she had just the ticket: her. Born in South Korea and adopted as an infant by Greg and Robin Brandt, Marissa grew up playing ice hockey with her younger sister Hannah in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and went on to play at nearby Gustavus Adolphus College.There was no answer to that email, but four years later Marissa did get a call. The coaches for South Korea’s team had heard of a Korean-born player in Minnesota. How about flying to Seoul for a tryout?“I didn’t know anybody in Korea. I don’t speak Korean, so it was very terrifying for me to go, by myself, 15-hour plane ride, not knowing anybody,” Marissa said after a recent exhibition game in Connecticut.“But I immediately found myself saying ‘yes’ over the phone.”Now the 25-year-old is preparing to wear South Korea’s colors when the 2018 Games begin in February, an assistant team captain no less.And if having one Olympian in the house were not enough for the Brandts, it turns out Marissa could face off against her sister in Pyeongchang.Hannah, born to the Brandts within months of Marissa’s arrival, has been named in the U.S. squad.“It’ll be cool just to be there with her, and for both of us to be making our first Olympics,” Hannah, 24, said in an interview in Boston.For their mom Robin? It’s understandably “overwhelming.”The Brandt sisters’ start on ice occurred as it often does for girls, on figure skates.“I didn’t envision either one of them going in the direction of hockey,” Robin Brandt said.Hannah was the first to make the switch, even though her first experience - a one-hour practice with a boys team when she was about five - left her in tears.“She wanted to be better than the boys, and she was determined to go back,” Robin said. Marissa, despite being a “lovely” figure skater in her mother’s eye, was soon keen to join her.Robin remembers sitting with Hannah when she was nine or 10 years old. “‘Mom,’ she goes, ‘how are they going to find me?'“‘What are you talking about?'” Robin asked.“‘How will they know where to find me for the Olympics?'” Robin recalled with a laugh in a recent telephone interview.“She had a tenacity. She’d be on the ice all the time, falling, but she’d be scoring from her stomach!”Indeed, Hannah can score. She won three Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association championships titles in four years at the University of Minnesota and tallied a school-record 115 goals and 170 assists.In 2014, she was shortlisted for the U.S. squad that went to the Olympics in Sochi but did not make the cut.Marissa’s playing career suffered a setback in high school as a result of back-to-back concussions which took nearly a year to recover fully from.“The career she might have had was probably affected by what happened,” Robin said.At Gustavus, a power at the collegiate Division III level, she switched from forward to defense, the position she plays now for South Korea.Hannah admires her sister for the risk she took to help promote ice hockey in South Korea.“For her to be able to help grow the game in Korea I think is pretty cool.” For Marissa, whose Korean name is Yoonjung Park, it has grown larger than that.“It’s bigger than just being there to win games,” said Marissa.”Being adopted and playing in Korea now, I hope that adoptees can be comfortable or want to embrace their birth countries.“For me growing up, I didn’t want that at all. It’s really been kind of life changing for me to be able to be in Korea and have that ‘Aha’ moment of being proud to be Korean. So it goes deeper than just hockey.”It remains a long shot that the Brandt sisters will face each other in Pyeongchang.The Americans are in a different group from their hosts in the preliminary round and making the knock-out round is a tall order for the hosts.Facing each other is also rare as they were always on the same team as children and played at colleges that never met.They played each other in an exhibition game last January, though, Hannah scoring two goals as her Minnesota Whitecaps came out on top 3-1.“I‘m like ‘Okay Hannah, just make me look good’,” Marissa recalled.“I think I had actually taken the puck from her because I know she wasn’t happy about it,” Hannah said. “I‘m like, ‘sorry’.”For Robin Brandt, the unlikelihood of their meeting at the Olympics is good news.“I think it’s a bit of a relief in one way, because who would you root for?” Robin asked. “Greg thinks he’d root for Korea because they’re the underdogs.While it’s widely assumed the Americans will be in the hunt for gold, Greg Brandt cautioned against being too quick to dismiss South Korea.It’s not impossible,” he said. “They are very tenacious. They never quit. They might surprise people there.”

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