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Reno-Tahoe drops 2030 Winter Olympic bid

By OlympicTalkNov 12, 2018, 6:56 PM EST
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If the U.S. bids for the 2030 Winter Olympics, it will not be with Reno-Tahoe.

The Nevada/California region ended its pursuit of becoming a U.S. bid city, at least for an Olympics in the near future. The U.S. is expected to bid for 2030, and the U.S. Olympic Committee last year named Reno-Tahoe, Denver and Salt Lake City as cities that expressed interest.

“We have maintained from the start that a Reno-Tahoe bid would have to make sense economically, environmentally and socially,” Brian Krolicki, chairman of the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition, said in a press release. “Given the parameters and conditions presented, we cannot make the numbers pass muster. To continue, at this point, would be untenable and unwise.”

The coalition noted the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games having exclusive Olympic marketing rights from 2019 through its Closing Ceremony as an obstacle.

The region hosted the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. Since, the U.S. has hosted two Winter Olympics — in Lake Placid in 1980 and Salt Lake City in 2002. It hasn’t hosted a Summer or Winter Games since, its longest drought since the 28-year gap between 1932 and 1960.

The International Olympic Committee vote in 2019 to choose the 2026 Winter Olympic host city could impact a potential U.S. 2030 bid. The remaining 2026 bidders are Calgary, Stockholm and an Italian bid with Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Calgary’s bid hinges on a public vote Tuesday. North America has never hosted back-to-back Winter Olympics.

Olympic host cities are traditionally chosen seven years beforehand.

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MORE: IOC board nominates 3 bids for 2026 Olympics

South Korea’s ‘Garlic Girls’ curlers say coaches verbally abused them, excluded skip

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By OlympicTalkNov 9, 2018, 11:21 AM EST
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Reno-Tahoe drops 2030 Winter Olympic bid Shaun White eyes his longest break from snowboard contests Karen Chen out of Grand Prix Series

South Korea’s Olympic silver medal curling team — affectionately known as the “Garlic Girls” — want their coaches replaced, claiming they were verbally abusive, withheld prize money and excluded the team’s skip after the Winter Games, according to South Korean media.

“We would like to continue our training [for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics] without our current coaches and their influence,” the players wrote in their letter to the president of South Korea’s Olympic Committee, according to the Korea Herald. “Our coach Kim was hardly present while we were training for the Olympics. Whenever we made complaints about Kim to Kim Kyung-Doo, who is her father and the vice president of Korea Curling Foundation, he verbally abused us.”

One coach denied some claims, which South Korea’s Olympic Committee is investigating.

Skip Kim Eun-Jung, Kim Kyeong-Ae, Kim Seon-Yeong, Kim Yeong-Mi and Kim Cho-Hi were a revelation in PyeongChang, reaching the final after finishing seventh at the 2017 World Championship. South Korea had only one previous Olympic women’s curling appearance, placing eighth in Sochi.

All team members hailed from Uiseong, a farming area known for its garlic.

In the reported letter, the silver medalists wrote that their head coach, Kim Min-Jung, plus her husband and father, both curling officials, mistreated them. They said they were banned from using social media after the Olympics. And that coaches tried to “rule Kim Eun-Jung off the team” after she got married in July, according to the Korea Times.

Jang Ban-Seok, the head coach’s husband and the Olympic mixed curling team’s head coach, denied some claims.

He said prize money covered team expenses, and the curlers signed a financial agreement. He also said that since the skip was planning to get pregnant, they needed to find a replacement skip this summer.

“We’ve never trained in a way that would lead to a curler being kicked off the team,” Jang wrote, according to the Korea Times.

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Simone Biles provides kidney stone update on TODAY

Simone Biles
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By OlympicTalkNov 9, 2018, 8:13 AM EST
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Simone Biles said she will get more scans in six weeks regarding the kidney stone uncovered on the eve of the world championships, where the gymnast earned medals in all six events.

“I’m not in too much pain, and I’m back in the gym training,” Biles said on TODAY, adding she will go on vacation next week.

She earned it.

Biles, in her first international meet since taking 14 months off post-Rio, earned four gold medals, one silver and one bronze. She became the first woman to earn four world all-around titles, the first gymnast to earn medals on every event in 31 years and picked up her first title on vault and her first medal on uneven bars.

Still, Biles was disappointed with parts of her performance, particularly falling twice in the all-around.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been out on the big stage, so I think that’s what shook me a little bit,” Biles said. “But, hopefully, I get better and next worlds will be a little bit smoother.”

Biles also reacted to this week’s news that the U.S. Olympic Committee is seeking to shut down USA Gymnastics after the Larry Nassar sexual-abuse crimes and several leadership changes.

“It’s a start in the right direction, but we still need a strong leader,” she said. “All we can do is sit down and watch and hope for the best.”

Biles is not expected to compete until March at the earliest. Next year, she can break the record for career world championships medals. Biles is up to 20. Retired Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo has the record of 23.

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