Olympic Notes: North Korea IOC Member Says Politics Will Not Affect PyeongChang Games

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February "will not be affected by the escalating crisis on the peninsula and North Korea will hopefully be able to send athletes," North Korean Olympic Committee VP Chang Ung said on Friday. Chang said that "so far no athletes from North Korea had qualified and any participation was subject to an NOC decision." He added, "I am quite sure that politics is one thing and Olympics is another thing. So I don't see any big problem for the PyeongChang Olympics" (REUTERS, 9/15).

The IOC voted to elect Milan, Italy, as the host city of the IOC Session 2019. The decision was taken following an evaluation commission visit to the city in May (IOC). 

Rugby sevens and the 27 other sports that were featured at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have been retained as part of the Paris 2024 program. Sevens made its debut at the Games last summer (EUROSPORT, 9/16).