Park City • Nate Holland pivoted toward his friend and fellow snowboardcross pioneer, Seth Wescott, and made his feelings known. The American snowboarders were out on the course at the PyeongChang Olympic test event in February 2016 when F-16 fighter jets started soaring overhead every 15 minutes.
“Dude,” Holland recalled, “I just want you to know I love you, man.”
Holland, who lives in Lake Tahoe, Calif., has been part of USO trips overseas to visit troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 38-year-old three-time Olympian has experienced plenty in his decades racing in the bindings. Seeing military jets overhead, Holland explained this week, was an absolute eye-opener.
“If this trips off right now,” he remembered, “we’re in a horrible spot.”
The United States Olympic Committee, along with every international Olympic governing body, has had more on its plate prepping for Olympic Games these last few cycles. The 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea — like the previous two Games — will be no different. After fear of terrorism attacks and last-minute infrastructure issues at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, environmental issues, the outbreak of the Zika virus and corruption around the 2016 Summer Games followed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
So Scott Blackmun yet again made a familiar declaration this week.
“These Games are really no different than any other Games in terms of our preparations,” the CEO of the USOC said at the Team USA Media Summit in Park City.
Four months out from PyeongChang, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continue to trade threats in the media. The site of the next Olympics is a mere 50 miles from the Demilitarized Zone, which separates South Korea from North Korea. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program continues to be a worrisome issue for leaders worldwide.
Jaeyoul Kim, executive vice president of the POCOG (PyeongChang Organizing Committee), traveled to Park City for the Media Summit this week. Kim said South Korea, along with the United Nations and other countries, are working toward installing the usual Olympic truce resolution during the Games, scheduled for Feb. 9 through 25.
“With the support of the international community,” Kim said, “we are very confident we will be able to deliver a safe and secure Games.”
American short-track speedskater John-Henry Krueger recently lived and trained in South Korea full-time before relocating to the Netherlands.
“There are always some news reports that sneak into your mind and stuff like that, but overall I feel like the USOC and IOC are looking out for all the athletes’ safety,” Krueger said. “I don’t think they’re going to let anything bad happen to us. As far as I’m concerned, it’s going to be a safe environment for the Games.”
Jamie Greubel Poser, bronze medalist in the two-woman bobsled at the 2014 Games, said her husband and sister, who was adopted by her family from South Korea, are planning to attend the Games.
“I feel like no matter what Olympics it is, there’s always some type of concern that seems to happen,” Greubel Poser said. “Granted, the one now does seem pretty serious, but I’m still going.”
A month ago, Blackmun said a portion of the USOC was in South Korea and remains working closely with the U.S. State Department and law enforcement officials.
“We’re in constant communication like we always are,” he said. “But should the unthinkable happen and there’s conflict between nations, that’s not an issue for the U.S. Olympic Committee. That’s an issue for the IOC.”
France’s prime minster of sport said in a radio interview last week that French winter Olympians would not attend the Games without a guarantee of safety. USOC chairman Larry Probst said Monday that was taken a bit out of context and France’s head of its National Olympic Committee has walked back that statement.
Kim said South Korea President Moon Jae-in is in close dialogue with leaders worldwide “for stability and peace of the region.” American long-track speedskater and world-record holder Heather Bergsma said she’s placed the utmost trust in the USOC heading into the Games.
“When we were at the test event in Korea, everything went really smooth,” she said. “I think it will be great.”
Holland initially was reluctant to have his wife and young daughter make the trek overseas for the Games. His wife, Christen, eventually convinced him. But the reality of the situation isn’t lost on the Olympic vet.
“You know, the political climate, what’s going on, you got Kim Jong Un on one hand and Donald Trump, I mean two like really level-headed guys, and some world problems, what can go wrong, right?” Holland said.
