Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Show all posts

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Skating and dating at the Olympics: Love on ice


by Wang Yang and Biodun Iginla, France24, GANGNEUNG (SOUTH KOREA) 


    © AFP / by Nick REEVES | USA's Alexa Scimeca Knierim (R) and USA's Chris Knierim are competing together in the figure skating pairs event at the Pyeongchang Olympics. They are among competitors who are also couples off the ice.

    GANGNEUNG (SOUTH KOREA) - 
    The next time you have a 'domestic' with your nearest and dearest spare a thought for love on ice couple Chris and Alexa Knierim.
    The US figure skaters competing at the Olympics are partners on the ice, and married off it.
    They say you should never take your work home with you, but for the two-time former US champions it's unavoidable.
    A heated exchange over the cornflakes needs to be quickly forgotten if like Alexa you have to put your total trust in the man you would have happily throttled a short time earlier. He's the one throwing you up in the air, spinning, and then catching you - all the while having to wear a smile.
    "Yeh, you can get that kind of situation, with any relationship whether you're married or just work partners," Chris told us at France24.  
    Alexa nods in agreement: "We're human, so we still run in to that sometimes."
    "I think it's easy for us in our situation and maybe its different for other people that it's an asset for us," Chris adds, "we know what works and what doesn't, talking, you know how to say something the right way.
    "It's a lot of communication, we've learned throughout the years of being together what works and what doesn't.
    "We switch off the minute you get in the ring -- yeh for sure."
    Rink romance in Pyeongchang is by no means confined to the Knierims.
    Russians Vladimir Morozov and Evgenia Tarasova, the two-time European champions, are rarely out of step whether are on or off.
    "We had mutual understanding from the very beginning," Tarasova said.
    "I decided to listen to Vladimir in everything, he is older, but I do not remember him ever raising his voice at me."
    Her red-haired work and life companion added: "We practically do not have these situations, honestly! Maybe that's our power."
    - 'life obstacles' -
    With all the athleticism, artistry, and emotional intelligence required in their sport, the Knierims say that life off the ice is by far the easy part.
    "Outside the rink life is easy," explains Alexa.
    "I mean skating's our job, that's our income, that's our livelihood, that's the stress.
    "When we go home it's play time, it's easy."
    It was not always like that, they say.
    "Right after we got married we had a lot of life obstacles," she said, with Nick agreeing: "We really hit the marriage hard."
    "Yep sickness, death in the family, we hit it all, those things changed us on the ice," added Alexa.
    But love on and off the ice does not conquer all.
    The Knierim's fellow Americans, ice dance pair Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue ended their two-and-a-half year romance but kept the day job and remain a couple on ice.
    "To work harder and do all of these things right, we just realised that to date and be with each other 24-7 with our particular personalities was just explosive," Donohue said.
    "We had to ask ourselves what was more important, our on-ice partnership or our off-ice relationship?
    "And we were both very clearly said the on-ice partnership is No. 1," added his ex.

    Sunday, February 4, 2018

    North Korea to send ceremonial head Kim Yong-nam South


    North Korean ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam (file image)Image copyrightAFP
    Image captionIt is unclear whether Kim Yong-nam, who heads the parliament in Pyongyang, will attend the opening ceremony along with US Vice President Mike Pence
    North Korea is to send its highest ranking official for years to the South amid a diplomatic rapprochement sparked by the Winter Olympics.
    Kim Yong-nam, the ceremonial head of state, will lead a 22-member delegation to the South beginning on Friday.
    The two Koreas' athletes will march under one flag at the opening ceremony.
    Their united women's ice hockey team played its first match on Sunday, but lost the friendly against Sweden 1-3.
    The unified Korean ice hockey team will get a chance to even the score when they face Sweden again during the Games.
    Sunday's outing was the first and only practice match for the newly minted Korean squad.
    Kim Yong-nam is the head of the parliament in the North and will be the highest-level official to visit South Korea in four years.
    An unnamed official from the South's presidential Blue House told us at the BBC that they believe this reflected a willingness on the part of North Korea to improve inter-Korean relations, and demonstrated the North's sincerity.
    The athletes of Team Korea in action during the Women's Ice Hockey friendly match against SwedenImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
    Image captionThe newly formed joint Korean ice hockey team did not prevail in the friendly against Sweden
    Mr Kim will lead a delegation of three other officials and 18 support staff, a North Korea official said.
    The official did not say whether he would attend the opening ceremony of the Games in Pyeongchang, a county in the mountainous east of South Korea.
    If so, it would put him in the company of US Vice President Mike Pence at a point of high tension with Washington over the North's nuclear ambitions.
    The North has conducted a series of missile tests designed to demonstrate its nuclear capability.
    North Korea's participation in the Olympics, which run from 9 to 25 February, was a sudden turn towards reconciliation.
    It came after the hereditary leader Kim Jong-un extended an olive branch to the South in a New Year message, saying he was open to dialogue and could send a team to the Games.
    As well as the ice hockey players, North Korean athletes will compete in skiing and figure skating events. It is also sending hundreds of delegates, cheerleaders and performers.
    Media captionNorth Korea's women's ice hockey team arrived in the South last week
    However, there have already been some bumps in the road to reconciliation.
    Earlier this week it emerged that the North had scheduled a large-scale military parade for 8 February, the day before the Winter Olympics commences.
    Amid negative headlines, North Korea said no-one had the right to take issue with its plans and promptly cancelled a cultural event it was to hold jointly with the South.
    Meanwhile, although Seoul and Washington have agreed to delay the annual big joint military exercises which always enrage the North, they will still go ahead at the end of the Paralympics.

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