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U.S. Figure Skating officials bat down talk of potential Olympic boycott

"The USOC is planning to go. We're planning to go. We're planning to field a team. Our athletes are training and there is nothing today that says we're not going to compete."
Nov 25, 2017; Lake Placid, NY, USA; Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani (USA) compete in free dance in ice dance during the 2017 Skate America figure skating competition at Olympic Center. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

The president of U.S. Figure Skating Wednesday admonished politicians who have been talking about a potential U.S. boycott of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, saying, “They shouldn't be playing politics with this.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted Monday that if North Korean athletes were to go to the Olympics, he “fully believe(s)” the United States would boycott. Nearly a month ago, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said U.S. attendance at the Olympics was “an open question.” A day later, however, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that the United States looked forward to going to the Games.

For sports leaders in charge of athletes who are in their last stages of preparation for the Games, it's a confusing time.

I'm confident South Korea will reject this absurd overture and fully believe that if North Korea goes to the Winter Olympics, we do not.

“I think they need to be careful saying things like that because these athletes have worked so hard to get there,” U.S. Figure Skating president Sam Auxier said at a news conference at the national championships, where the U.S. Olympic figure skating team is going to be selected this week.

“The Olympics should be above politics. … It was a disaster in 1980 for many of the athletes that couldn't go (to Moscow due to a U.S.-led boycott.) And I'd hate to see that just because Trump and Kim Jong-un are trying to see which button's bigger.”

Auxier and USFS executive director David Raith both said they are following the U.S. Olympic Committee's lead on the issue of any potential boycott.

“It's really the USOC's call and (USOC CEO) Scott Blackmun has come out and said we're going to compete unless it's physically or legally impossible through some type of war action,” Auxier said. “That would change things dramatically. But I don't think our athletes would boycott. They've been working all their lives for this. Who knows what Trump will tweet out, but if he were to say to boycott it, unless there was a very clear reason why to do it, I don't think our athletes would boycott it. They want to compete.”

Said Raith: “The USOC is planning to go. We're planning to go. We're planning to field a team. Our athletes are training and there is nothing today that says we're not going to compete.”

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