The first "significant move" to punish the doping conspiracy at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics has been launched, with 28 Russian athletes being charged by the IOC. The Olympic governing body said that it has "opened disciplinary proceedings against the 28 athletes whose urine samples were likely to have been tampered with at the 2014 Games." Six cases involve cross-country skiers, "who have been provisionally suspended" by the Int'l Ski Federation. Russia won five medals in men’s cross-country skiing, including one Gold. The "new wave" of Olympic doping cases is based on evidence provided this month by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren (LONDON TIMES, 12/24).
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizing committee announced that theater director Yang Jung-ung "has been tapped to lead the opening ceremonies" for the event. The committee said that Yang will "serve as executive producer of the ceremonies, while another theater director, Koh Sun-woong, will direct the ceremonies at the 2018 Paralympics." Yang, 48, of the Yohangza Theatre Company is "known for his renditions of Shakespeare classics, reinterpreted in his signature mise-en-scene style" (KOREA TIMES, 12/26).
A court in central China jailed a former deputy sports minister "who once sat on China’s Olympics committee for 10 and a half years after finding him guilty of bribery." Xiao Tian, as a deputy head of the General Administration of Sport, "held a position equivalent of a vice minister." The court said that Xiao took 7.96M yuan in bribes between '97 and '14 (DAILY TIMES, 12/27).
The Kuwaiti government on Friday called on FIFA and the IOC to "temporarily lift a 14-month sports ban while it amends a controversial law." Kuwait's public sports authority urged FIFA and the IOC to "lift the ban on Kuwaiti sports activities temporarily until relevant local laws are revised" (AFP, 12/24).
