Korea opportunities

GREAT BRITAIN has sent its biggest ever Winter Olympics squad to South Korea - and it also stands a good chance of being its best ever too.

Four years ago in Sochi, Team GB equalled its best Winter Games performance with one gold, one silver and two bronze.

And, despite being a non-Alpine nation with little winter sports pedigree, there are realistic hopes of the team going at least one better at Pyeongchang 2018.

The official target, set by governing body UK Sport, is indeed for five medals to be won - and skeleton and curling would be two of the more obvious places to find British success.

In fact, since the tea-tray sport skeleton was re-introduced into the Olympics in 2002, Team GB has always won a medal in the women's competition.

Alex Coomber won bronze in Salt Lake City in 2002, four years before Shelley Rudman took silver in Turin, and eight years before Amy Williams became the first British individual gold medallist at a Winter Olympics for 30 years.

Lizzy Yarnold ensured we would not have to wait as long for the next individual Winter Olympic title with a dominant victory in the same event in Sochi.

Flagbearer Yarnold will defend her title in Pyeongchang alongside Laura Deas, while Dominic Parsons and Jerry Rice will partake in the men's competition.

Curling - with its instantly recognisable combination of brushes and polished granite stones - has also supplied its fair share of success in recent Games.

In Sochi, both the men's team and the women's team finished on the podium with the men taking silver and the women winning bronze.

Further back - in 2002 - housewife Rhona Martin famously caused a national sensation in the wee hours by leading Team GB to its first Winter Olympics gold since Torvill and Dean in 1984.

Of course, this time, it might just be that Britain cannot claim a medal in either skeleton or curling.

Winter sports, by their very nature, are highly unpredictable - and that certainly is something which short-track speed skater Elise Christie does not need to be told twice.

Christie, frankly, suffered a nightmare Games four years ago in Sochi. First, she was penalised in the 500m final, in which she had finished second, as she was deemed to have caused an early crash.

Then, two days later, she was eliminated in the qualifiers of the 1500m when she was adjudged to have failed to cross the official line marked in the ice. She was wide by 1cm.

An understandably emotional television interview followed in which a devastated Christie mentioned that she had also been the target of abuse from internet trolls.

Many of her abusers were Korean followers of Park Seung-hi who had been one of the skaters caught up in the early chaos in the 500m final.

But, with all of that now consigned to the past, Christie is back for a third Olympics at the age of just 27.

The Nottingham-based Scot is part of a five-strong short-track speed-skating squad - and happily, in the intervening period in South Korea, she has gone from receiving death threats to giving out autographs.

Hopefully, in the days to come, her remarkable redemption story will be completed in style - and in Korea itself.

In all, Team GB sent a total of 59 athletes to the Games in Pyeongchang so there is the exciting possibility that Britain may even break new ground.

Notably, Britain has never won a ski medal but freestyle skiers James Woods and Izzy Atkin could make history in slopestyle.

Slalom specialist Dave Ryding finished second in the Kitzbuhel World Cup last year and has recorded top 10 results this season - while, in cross-country skiing, Andrew Musgrave just missed out on a medal at the World Championships.

Snowboarding makes its debut as an Olympic sport at these Games - but already Britain's best hope has been dashed with Katie Ormerod unable to compete after fracturing her heel in practice.

It is a heart-breaking injury for the 20-year-old especially with it coming merely hours before the official opening of the 23rd edition of the Winter Olympiad.

Yes, it really is that close now - a fact which will no doubt gladden the hearts of the the organisers of the Games for whom the build-up has been unsurprisingly difficult.

Even the weather gods have not been particularly kind. Pyeongchang is set to be the coldest Olympics on record with wind chill temperatures in the mountains making it feel as chilly as -25C.

Indeed, there are genuine fears that it might even be too cold to snow - although organisers are prepared with snow guns which can produce the white stuff artificially albeit at a total cost of £4.4m.

Perhaps inevitably, sports and politics have also mixed - and the prelude to the Games has been dominated by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the Russia team.

The ban followed an investigation into state-sponsored doping at their home Games in Sochi in 2014. However, the IOC subsequently invited 169 "clean" Russians to compete as independent athletes.

A further 47 athletes and coaches are also still hoping to compete if they win the appeals which they have made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

But the decision is not expected until 2am British-time - only nine hours before the opening ceremony tomorrow - and the whole thing has become a bit of a farce which surely should have been sorted by now.

Separately, there is the rather awkward fact that, technically at least, South Korea is still at war with its neighbours North Korea.

Only a truce stopped the fighting in the Korean War in 1953, rather than a peace agreement, and the tension between them became further heightened during the course of 2017.

In early September, North Korea really ramped up its aggression by conducting its sixth nuclear weapons test to the dismay of the international community at large.

United States president Donald Trump responded by threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea in his first address to the United Nations.

But, thankfully, the rhetoric since the New Year seems to have cooled somewhat.

In a surprise move, North Korea has agreed to send a team to compete, something which it pointedly refused to do for the 1988 Summer Olympics which were held in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Indeed, the two nations will march together at the opening ceremony under a unified flag and will even field a unified women's ice hockey team at the Games.

President of the IOC Thomas Bach described the agreement as "a milestone in a long journey".

He added: "The Olympic spirit is about respect, dialogue and understanding. The Winter Games [in] Pyeongchang are hopefully opening the door to a brighter future on the Korean peninsula, and inviting the world to join in a celebration of hope."

Raise a glass to diplomacy then - it appears, in this regard, as if it has achieved the necessary.

Now, though, it really is time for the talking to stop - and for the Games to begin!

Coverage can be found across the BBC (and Eurosport) with a nightly hour-long highlights show showing the best bits on BBC Two every evening at 7pm

TEAM GB  

2018 WINTER OLYMPICS

PYEONGCHANG

CURLING
Team Smith Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell, Cameron Smith, Glen Muirhead

			Score
14-Feb	00:05	SWITZERLAND	W6-5 OT
14-Feb	11:05	CANADA	L4-6
15-Feb	05:05	JAPAN	W6-5
16-Feb	11:05	SWEDEN	L6-8
17-Feb	05:05	SOUTH KOREA	L5-11
18-Feb	11:05	ITALY	W7-6 OT
19-Feb	05:05	DENMARK	W7-6
20-Feb	00:05	NORWAY	W10-3
21-Feb	05:05	UNITED STATES	L4-10
22-Feb	00:05	PLAY-OFF: SWITZERLAND	L5-9

Team Muirhead Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray, Kelly Schafer

			Score
14-Feb	05:05	OLYMPIC ATHLETES RUSSIA	W10-3
15-Feb	00:05	UNITED STATES	L4-7
15-Feb	11:05	CHINA	W8-7 OT
17-Feb	00:05	DENMARK	W7-6
17-Feb	11:05	SOUTH KOREA	L4-7
18-Feb	05:05	SWEDEN	L6-8 OT
19-Feb	11:05	SWITZERLAND	W8-7
20-Feb	05:05	JAPAN	W8-6
21-Feb	00:05	CANADA	W6-5
23-Feb	11:05	SEMI FINAL: SWEDEN	L5-10
24-Feb	11:05	BRONZE MATCH: JAPAN	L3-5

  

ALPINE SKIING
Dave Ryding	Men's slalom	1:40.16 (9th)
Laurie Taylor	Men's slalom	1:43.41 (26th)
Charlie Guest	Women's slalom	1:48.26 (33rd)
Alex Tilley	Women's slalom Women's giant slalom	DNF DNF
Dave Ryding Laurie Taylor Charlie Guest Alex Tilley	Mixed team event	beat United States in R16 lost to Norway in QF (5th)
BIATHLON
Amanda Lightfoot	Women's sprint Women's individual	24:15.3 (67th) 49:14.7 (73rd)
BOBSLEIGH
Brad Hall Joel Fearon	Two-man	3:18.34 (12th)
Brad Hall Greg Cackett Joel Fearon Nick Gleeson	Four-man	3:18.26 (17th)
Lamin Deen Andrew Matthews Toby Olubi Ben Simons	Four-man	3:18.29 (18th)
Mica McNeill Mica Moore	Two-woman	3:24.07 (8th)
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
Andrew Musgrave	Men's 15km freestyle Men's 30km skiathlon Men's 50km mass start	35:51.0 (28th) 1:16:45.7 (7th) 2:20:57.9 (37th)
Callum Smith	Men's 15km freestyle Men's 30km skiathlon	38:20.9 (75th) 1:23:49.9 (57th)
Andrew Young	Men's 15km freestyle Men's sprint	37:13.1 (57th) 3:21.50 (45th)
Andrew Musgrave Andrew Young	Men's team sprint	16:30.62 (15th)
Annika Taylor	Women's 10km freestyle Women's 15km skiathlon	30:52.9 (75th) 48:09.1 (60th)
FIGURE SKATING
Nick Buckland Penny Coomes	Ice dancing	170.32 (11th)
FREESTYLE SKIING
Lloyd Wallace	Men's aerials	100.03 (14th)
Murray Buchan	Men's halfpipe	66.00 (14th)
Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon	Men's halfpipe	15.00 (26th)
Peter Speight	Men's halfpipe	64.60 (15th)
Rowan Cheshire	Women's halfpipe	75.40 (7th)
Molly Summerhayes	Women's halfpipe	66.00 (17th)
Emily Sarsfield	Women's ski cross	lost in QF
Tyler Harding	Men's slopestyle	21.00 (29th)
James Woods	Men's slopestyle	91.00 (4th)
Isabel Atkin	Women's slopestyle	84.60 (3rd)
Katie Summerhayes	Women's slopestyle	71.40 (7th)
LUGE
Adam Rosen Rupert Staudinger	Men's singles Men's singles	2:25.167 (22nd) 2:27.842 (33rd)
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
Joshua Cheetham	Men's 1000m	1:26.223 (Heats)
Farrell Treacy	Men's 1000m Men's 1500m	1:25.080 (QF) DNF (Heats)
Elise Christie	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	1:23.063 (4th) PEN (Heats) PEN (SF)
Charlotte Gilmartin	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	PEN (Heats) 1:32.899 (Heats) 3:00.691 (SF)
Kathryn Thomson	Women's 500m Women's 1000m Women's 1500m	1:08.896 (Heats) 1:32.150 (Heats) 2:32.891 (Heats)
SKELETON
Dominic Parsons	Men's event	3:22.20 (3rd)
Jerry Rice	Men's event	3:24.24 (10th)
Laura Deas	Women's event	3:27.90 (3rd)
Lizzy Yarnold	Women's event	3:27.28 (1st)
SNOWBOARDING
Rowan Coultas	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	84.50 (8th) 23.58 (18th)
Billy Morgan	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	168.00 (3rd) 56.40 (10th)
Jamie Nicholls	Men's big air Men's slopestyle	81.25 (11th) 71.56 (8th)
Aimee Fuller	Women's big air Women's slopestyle	25.00 (25th) 41.43 (17th)
Zoe Gillings-Brier	Women's snowboard-x	lost in QF

FIFA farce set to run and run

FIFA thought it was over. The summary of its report into the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups had cleared the eventual winners Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing.

"Move along, nothing to see here" seemed to be the official line coming from its headquarters in Zurich.

But the world governing body had not anticipated Michael Garcia, the American lawyer who had conducted the two-year inquiry, distancing himself from the summary, written by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.

Indeed, Mr Garcia says the report "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations" of his own work and that he will now appeal to FIFA itself.

No doubt Sepp Blatter and his cronies will find a way to whitewash that process and it would be better at this stage if Mr Garcia would forget about due process and just publish his own findings in full.

For only then might we get anywhere nearer to the truth in this matter.

Incredibly, albeit rather predictably, the English Football Association is the only organisation to have been accused of flouting the bidding rules as it stands.

Now, of course, it would be naive to think that the FA was not perhaps in any way culpable even if it has vehemently denied the charge.

Why else, after all, would England play an end-of-season friendly against Trinidad & Tobago if it was not to butter up former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner?

Nevertheless, today's report seemed content to sweep greater wrongdoings under the carpet.

As England's FA chairman Greg Dyke said: “Those who co-operated the most seemed to be the ones that gave them the information by which they were then criticised, like the FA.

"Others, who didn’t co-operate, didn’t get criticised at all. Well, there’s a surprise.”

For a start, the investigation into the 2018 bid winners Russia cannot have been too detailed given that the report states its committee had lost its evidence after returning rented computers which were subsequently destroyed.

Meanwhile, in terms of the 2022 decision, it notes that illegal payments were made by Qatari official Mohamed Bin Hammam - but that these were somehow not linked to country’s World Cup bid.

Bin Hammam, it may be recalled, was the only man willing to stand against Blatter in his last election in 2011, only for allegations to cause him to step down.

Instead, Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term, and the Swiss has since announced he intends to stand yet again next year.

Yes, at the end of the day, FIFA is his plaything and, despite having turned 78 in March, it seems unlikely he will relinquish control any time soon.

That means Russian supremo Vladimir Putin will get another major propaganda event in 2018, and it also means 2022 going ahead in Qatar - despite the fact that no one can agree which part of the year to put it.

But, most shamefully of all, the latest reports from Doha confirm the Qatar World Cup is effectively being built on the back of the efforts of slave labour.

Particularly implicated was Kim Jong-un's North Korean government which has sent workers to the Gulf, only for the coffers in Pyongyang to keep the majority of the money they earn.

Of course, by keeping the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA does more than simply turn a blind eye to such matters.

And yet, despite Mr Garcia breaking ranks today, it is difficult to see anything really changing unless FIFA loses all of its sponsors and the support of the majority of associations.

That is unlikely to happen as there is simply too much money in it for them - and, when it comes to anything connected with FIFA, self-interest always overrules principles.

World Cup 2010: Group G

BRAZIL + IVORY COAST + PORTUGAL + NORTH KOREA

Fixtures:
ITV Tue June 15 Ivory Coast v Portugal Port Elizabeth 15.00
ITV Tue June 15 Brazil v North Korea Ellis Park 19.30
BBC Sun June 20 Brazil v Ivory Coast Johannesburg 19.30
BBC Mon June 21 Portugal v North Korea Cape Town 12.30
BBC Fri June 25 Portugal v Brazil Durban 15.00
BBC Fri June 25 North Korea v Ivory Coast Nelspruit 15.00


BRAZIL
Coach: Dunga (since 2006)
FIFA World ranking: 1
World Cup best: Winners in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002
Last appearance: 2006 - Quarter Finals
How they qualified: Brazil ultimately topped the South American Qualifying Group but began their 18-game campaign rather slowly, winning four and drawing six of the first 11 matches. However, Dunga's men then won five successive games, including a sweet 3-1 win in Argentina. In the next match, Brazil sealed a place in the finals with two games to spare as Nilmar hit a hat-trick in a 4-2 home win against Chile. In the meantime, last summer Brazil also won the Confederations Cup in South Africa, beating USA 3-2 in the Final, as well as the 2007 Copa America.
Premier League picks: The lack of silky Brazilian players in the rough and tumble of the Premier League is one of the main criticisms regarding the style of English football. This time, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes is the only English-based player in the squad, though Manchester City fans may or may not recall Robinho - now at Santos- with fond memories. That is not to say there are not plenty of familiar faces, however, with 20 of the 23 men playing in the major European leagues, and the other three, including Robinho, playing in Brazil. The omission of two-time winner Ronaldinho was major news when the squad was announced, though he has not played for the national team since April 2009. Full squad.
Prediction: Winners
Brazil have won the World Cup in Europe (1958), South America (1962), North and Central America (1970, 1994) and Asia (2002). Unsurprisingly, given that record, they are favourites to complete the set this summer by adding Africa to the list. Even a relatively tough group should be dealt with easily enough. Expect a goal-fest in the opener against the Koreans while the Ivorians are too vulnerable in defence and Portugal too weak in attack to derail Brazil's bid at this stage. Despite just one defeat in 25 games, Dunga has been criticised in Brazil for taking a far too pragmatic approach. But - while the Brazilians are indeed much better defensively under him - Kaka, Robinho and marauding full-backs Maicon and Daniel Alves still provide plenty of flair. Brazil would dearly love to host the 2014 World Cup as defending champions.

NORTH KOREA
Coach: Kim Jong-hun (since 2008)
FIFA World ranking: 105
World Cup best: Quarter Finals in 1966
Last appearance: 1966
How they qualified: The North Koreans qualified for the first time in 44 years, finishing second above Saudi Arabia on goal difference in the final Asian Qualifying Group B, despite scoring just seven goals in eight games. Ultimately, the Koreans 1-0 home win against the Saudis proved vital with the reverse fixture ending 0-0. In four matches against South Korea over two group phases, there were three draws and one South Korean win - but the North Koreans scored just one goal in those matches.
Premier League picks: Unsurprisingly, none of the North Korean squad plays in the Premier League - indeed, only three of the 23 men ply their trade outside of North Korea. Two of them, striker Jong Tae Se and An Yong Hak, play in the J-League in Japan while Hong Yong Jo is with FK Rostov in Russia. Meanwhile, the plan to use Kim Myung-won as a striker instead of naming a third goalkeeper backfired after a FIFA diktat stated he can only be used in goal. Full squad.
Prediction: First Round
The North Koreans are outsiders in every sense of the term. Little is known about their team in the outside world though their lack of goals in the qualifiers is worrying, especially considering the strength of this group. Indeed, the North Koreans will be lucky even to register a single goal considering the gulf in class between them and their opponents. The first match against Brazil could be particularly brutal if the five-time winners play to their best. At least the second match against Portugal will evoke memories of 1966 when the Koreans took a 3-0 lead in the Quarter Final, only for Eusebio to score four goals in a dramatic 5-3 comeback win. But, whatever happens this time, the North Korean public are unlikely to see much action back home due to the ongoing dispute with South Korea who they are relying on to provide a picture feed.

IVORY COAST
Coach: Sven Goran Eriksson (since March 2010)
FIFA World ranking: 27
World Cup best: First Round in 2006
Last appearance: 2006
How they qualified: Ivory Coast were the only unbeaten team in the African qualifiers with five wins and a draw from six matches in the final African Qualifying Group E. At home, the Ivorians were imperious with 5-0 wins over Malawi and Burkina Faso, and a 3-0 win over Guinea. The going was only a little tougher away with early narrow wins over Guinea (2-1) and Burkina Faso (3-2) and a point in Malawi which actually sealed an easy qualification with a game to spare.
Premier League picks: Chelsea's Didier Drogba leads the line for the Elephants and he could be paired with fellow Blues striker Salomon Kalou. Elsewhere, Sven Goran Eriksson has plenty of players with Premier League pedigree. At the back, Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue will link up with ex-club team-mate Kolo Toure, now of Manchester City while Wigan Athletic's Steve Gohouri also makes it into the 23. Reserve goalkeeper Daniel Yeboah, of ASEC Mimosas, is the only player in both this squad and the one selected in 2006 to play in his home country. Full squad.
Prediction: Second Round
The unlucky Ivorians have been drawn into the so-called Group of Death for a second World Cup in a row. In 2006, they did not cope well, losing 2-1 to Argentina and Netherlands to go out after just two games, before a morale-boosting first-ever finals win over Serbia. This time, their tournament could be effectively over after just one game - their opener is against Portugal and defeat in that, with Brazil to come, would surely spell another premature end. The Elephants also failed to get past the Quarter Finals in January's African Nations Cup and so it is Eriksson's job to turn the Ivorians' doubtless talents into tournament players for that massive opener against vulnerable Portugal. For Eriksson on a personal level, revenge would be sweet after the Portuguese knocked his England side out of Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006.

PORTUGAL
Coach: Carlos Queiroz (since 2008)
FIFA World ranking: 3
World Cup best: Semi Finals in 1966 and 2006
Last appearance: 2006
How they qualified: The semi finalists from four years ago found qualification real tough going for this year's edition, just squeezing past Sweden to finish second in UEFA Qualifying Group One behind Denmark. Just two wins from the first seven games, including a 0-0 home draw with Albania, left a finals place in real doubt but Carlos Queiroz's men hit form at the right time, winning their final three group games to overtake the Swedes. That put the Portuguese into a playoff against surprise package Bosnia-Herzegovina and they finally played nearer to potential, winning both games 1-0 for a comfortable 2-0 aggregate victory.
Premier League picks: Manchester United winger Nani is reunited with his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and there is also still a strong Chelsea presence in the Portuguese squad. Blues defenders Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho have been chose along with midfielder Deco. Nine of the 23 men play in the Portuguese league but just one of them, reserve defender Fabio Coentrao, comes from champions Benfica. Full squad.
Prediction: First Round
Portugal's worries over Cristiano Ronaldo are well-founded - not that the 25-year-old seemed too concerned about his form. When asked about his failure to register even a single goal in the Portuguese's laboured qualifying campaign, Ronaldo gave a beaming smile and said he was saving all his goals for the finals. That may well be the case but, despite the ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Bosnia in the playoffs, Portugal remain a team scratching about for form in front of goal. Their embarrassing failure to break down the might of the Cape Verde Islands, ranked 114 in the world, in a recent warm-up match suggests a lack of firepower remains the issue. A similarly slow start against the Ivory Coast in their opener means this could be a very short jaunt to South Africa, indeed.