The unified Korean team drew roughly 15,000 fans over its four games at Pyeongchang 2018.GETTY IMAGES
The Int'l Ice Hockey Federation said Monday that it will "consider keeping the joint Korean women's team" for the Beijing 2022 Games, according to Yoo Jee-ho of YONHAP. IIHF President Rene Fasel said that he feels "very, very happy" about how the unified team has "come together to represent peace" at the ongoing Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Asked if the IIHF will try to keep the two Koreas together in women's hockey, Fasel said, "Why not? I think that'd be a very good operation to do until 2022 to still keep the joint team in Beijing and have this unified team as a message of peace." He spoke of "many, many political obstacles" that had to be cleared before the teams could be brought together. He also took his time to thank Sarah Murray, the head coach of the South Korean team who was put in charge of the combined squad, "for her hard work." Fasel: "Poor girl: She was not so happy in the beginning because adding 12 players for her was not so easy. But now, the team is coming together." POCOG President Lee Hee-beom said, "It's a symbol of a peace Olympic Games. Only sports can unify people beyond politics, beyond any type of barriers. Putting athletes from South and North Korea on the same team was a very proud moment, one that was a true sign of peace" (YONHAP, 2/19).
PLUS TWO: REUTERS' Steve Keating reported the women's ice hockey tournament at Beijing 2022 "will expand from eight to 10 teams," Fasel said on Monday. The decision comes "despite a huge gap in competitiveness among the leading teams," with Canada and the U.S. "still dominating the sport." Fasel said, "The Chinese, at the last meeting we had in Beijing, there was a request to add two women's teams. We play the top women's championship with 10 teams so we extended already our world championship." Canada and the U.S., which have won every Gold Medal since women's hockey was introduced to the Olympics at Nagano 1998, "are a class apart" (REUTERS, 2/19).
