With tensions between North Korea and the United States threatening to boil over, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley says it is an “open question” whether American athletes will be sent to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics set to take place Feb 9-25 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
"Those are conversations we're gonna have to have," she told Fox News' Martha MacCallum. "We don't ever fear anything — we live our lives, we use our freedom, we have that — and certainly that's a perfect opportunity for [American Olympic athletes] to go and do something they've worked so hard for."
After Haley’s response, MacCallum brought back the question to get a clear answer, asking “So is that a done deal? Is the United States recommending that our team goes, or is that still an open question?”
“There is an open question,” admitted Haley. “I have not heard anything about that.”
Though the Olympics would seem to be a major terror target, they have witnessed just three fatal terror attacks since 1970. The most infamous of them is the 1972 "Black September" massacre in Munich, in which members of the Palestinian Black September militant group captured Israeli Olympic athletes. All 11 hostage athletes were killed, as well as a West German police officer and five attackers, according to the Washington Post.
Another terror attack took place on American soil during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In that attack, a 40-pound pipe bomb loaded with screws and nails killed one person immediately and a second person, a journalist, as they rushed to the scene of the attack.
The most recent fatal attack at the Olympics took place during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which a man stabbed two Americans and a Chinese tour guide, killing one.
If the United States declines to participate, it would not be the first time. Americans led a 65-nation boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
About the Author
