OLYMPICS

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Russia Is Insulted at Winter Games. Canada Says Sorry (Even if It Didn’t Need to).
By TARIQ PANJAFEB. 8, 2018

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Canada appears to be living up to its reputation for politeness.

An executive from the Canadian Olympic Committee met on Thursday with counterparts representing Russian athletes at the Winter Games here and apologized over an episode that may not actually have involved a Canadian.

At issue is an altercation that took place this week, when a Russian coach said he had been verbally abused at a canteen in the Olympic Village about the participation of Russian athletes.

Tensions are running high among athletes and officials over the presence in Pyeongchang of more than 160 Russians, who will be allowed to participate even though their country was banned in punishment for the systematic doping program at the 2014 event, hosted by Sochi, Russia.

The athletes will compete under the banner of “Olympic Athletes from Russia.” The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that 47 Russian athletes and officials were waiting on a decision on Friday from the world’s top sports court about whether they will be allowed to participate after they appealed the International Olympic Committee’s decision to bar them over links to the doping effort.

Canadian officials said they were informed by the I.O.C. that the person who had engaged in the abusive behavior — whose identity remains unclear — may have been with their delegation, and the mere suggestion was enough for them to offer an apology.

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“It was a simple discussion and it was O.K.,” said Eric Myles, the executive director for sport for the Canadian Olympic Committee. “We said, ‘Hey, if something happened we are sorry.’ ”

Myles noted that Canada had apologized even though it didn’t have many details and had been under no obligation to do so. “It’s an emotional time, there’s a lot of action going on internationally with all this situation, and when we heard about this situation, and honestly, it’s not clear,’’ he said. “I don’t know if it was a coach, athlete, was it really a Canadian, honestly, we don’t know that.”

Team leaders in the Canadian delegation have been reminded about how they are expected to conduct themselves, Myles said.

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“We haven’t had anything since then,” he said.

The contrition seemed to satisfy Stanislav Pozdnyakov, the head of the Russian delegation. “We got apologies and now everything is O.K.,” he said.

A cloud has hung over Russian athletes for almost two years, after the exposure of an elaborate scheme that involved the surreptitious replacement of hundreds of tainted urine samples in Sochi. At the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, some Russian athletes were targeted by rivals angered by the revelations of widespread doping.

The Russian swimmer Yuliya Efimova, who was allowed to compete in Rio, later described her experience as “awful” and “a war.” Efimova was shunned by her rivals and jeered by spectators on her way to two silver medals.

Canadian officials have been among the most vocal about drug cheating. “There’s no place for doping in sport and we will do everything we can to constantly fight against doping,” said Trisha Smith, the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee, at a news conference on Thursday.

Richard Pound, a Canadian who is the I.O.C.’s longest-serving member and the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, attacked colleagues this week over their handling of Russian doping, saying that the governing body had failed to act strongly enough.

“I believe that in the collective mind of a significant portion of the world, and among the athletes of the world, the I.O.C. has not only failed to protect athletes, but has made it possible for cheating athletes to prevail against the clean athletes,” Pound said. “We talk more than we walk.”

Pound said that athletes and the public “no longer have confidence that their interests are being protected. Our commitment to both is in serious doubt. With respect, I don’t think we can talk our way out of this problem.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/sports/olympics-canada-russia-apology.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2Fwinter-olympics-2018