South Korea's top hockey official and the women's national team head coach on Wednesday "tiptoed around the controversy surrounding a potential joint Korean team at next year's Winter Olympics," according to YONHAP. South Korea Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan last month suggested assembling a South-North joint women's squad for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. The idea was "quickly met with criticism." Korea Ice Hockey Association President Chung Mong-won said, "As of now, nothing has been set in stone. But whatever happens, we'll come up with plans to protect our athletes and let the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation know." Chung added that the national team will "follow whatever decision the government reaches." He said, "We have to think of the nation's big picture." Women's team head coach Sarah Murray admitted her players seemed "a little distracted" at first when the news broke, but it is an "issue that neither she nor anyone on the team can control." She said, "To have someone come in and maybe potentially take their spot doesn't seem very fair. But we're trying to focus on what we can control. We'll deal with it when it happens" (YONHAP, 7/19).
SWIMMING ZONE: REUTERS' Matthias Blamont reported Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo opened a clean swimming zone in a city canal on Tuesday, "calling it a step on the way to open water swim events in the city's Seine river in time for the 2024 Olympic Games." Hildalgo has repeatedly said that "she intends to see Olympic swimmers use the river that snakes around Notre Dame Cathedral and past the Eiffel Tower should Paris be victorious." At the opening of the canal water pools, Hidalgo said, "This opens that door to open water swimming in Paris" (REUTERS, 7/18).
