US Olympic Team Told to Not Wear USA Uniforms Outside of Olympic Venues

 

As concerns about the safety of athletes and others attending the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, continue to grow, we now learn that members of the U.S. Olympic teams have been directed to NOT wear team uniforms anywhere except in the official Olympic venues.  The warning comes for the IOC and cites U.S. State Department concerns about the physical safety of Americans participating in the Winter Games.  As previous posts have indicated, insurgents at war with the Russian regime may seek to  inflict terrorist attacks on those attending and participating in the Games.  Here are highlights from the Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. unveiled more of its Winter Olympic uniforms Thursday, but officials are cautioning athletes to keep theirs under wraps outside the games' venues.

A memo sent to athletes by the U.S. Olympic Committee cautions them to avoid wearing team colors too prominently in Sochi amid heightened concerns about security in the southern Russian resort town.

"The U.S. Department of State has advised that wearing conspicuous Team USA clothing in non-accredited areas may put your personal safety at greater risk," says the memo, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The memo details other steps that athletes can take to ensure their safety while in Sochi, including enrolling in a State Department traveler program.

Officials caution athletes about safety at each Olympics, but the warning about Team USA gear seemed new to Bretz, who also competed four years ago in Vancouver and said he received no such warning then.

The USOC declined to comment on the memo but reiterated a statement from Chief Executive Scott Blackmun, who said the committee is working with the State Department, local organizers and law enforcement to ensure athletes' safety. The State Department didn't respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, as the New York Times reports, some families of athletes and tourists are rethinking attending the Sochi Games. Here are excerpts:

Athletes and their families are becoming increasingly anxious about possible terrorist attacks at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, so much so that some families have decided not to attend and others plan to curtail their activities once they get to the Games in Russia.

No American athletes have yet canceled plans to compete because of terrorist threats. But with increasing talk about unrest in the region and threats from would-be suicide bombers, some family members say they are reconsidering long-held plans to support the athletes at the Games.

“It’s getting to the point where our lives are on the line if we go there,” said Tim Oshie, whose son, T. J., is on the United States hockey team. “They’re talking about terrorizing families. I’d rather stay in the homeland.”

Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, the organization responsible for the delegation of American athletes at the Games, refused on Friday to answer questions about whether athletes and their families had expressed concern to Olympic officials, what kind of guidance the organization was giving athletes regarding security and whether any special security measures would be provided in Sochi.

This month, the State Department issued a travel advisory warning Americans planning to go to Sochi that terrorists had threatened to attack the Winter Games and urging them to “remain vigilant.” 

A Pentagon official said recently that the United States would station two Navy warships in the Black Sea, next to Sochi, in case any Americans needed to be evacuated after a terrorist attack or other emergency.

Let's be clear.  The IOC is worthless and deciding to hold the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi was utterly irresponsible given the dangers of the region.  And that doesn't even begin to get into a comparison between what the IOC did in 1936 with the anti-Jewish Nazis and what it is doing now with anti-gay Russia.