ID :
195315
Sat, 07/16/2011 - 10:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/195315
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Int'l bobsleigh body pledges support for unified Korean team
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, July 16 (Yonhap) -- The international governing body of sledding sports on Saturday pledged support for a unified Korean bobsleigh team for the 2018 Winter Olympics here in the South Korean alpine town.
On the final day of its general assembly here, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) said under the so-called "Peace & Sports" program, it would help a unified Korean team train should it ever be formed.
Under the scheme, two South Koreans and two North Koreans will compete as a single team in four-man bobsleigh in PyeongChang.
Ivo Ferriani, president of the FIBT, said a single Korean team should be able to train in PyeongChang and also in Europe, and that the federation would spare no efforts to help the athletes improve.
Ferriani told Yonhap News Agency that he would like to see sports aid the unification process of the divided peninsula, adding that sports can contribute to global peace.
The FIBT said it would discuss more specific plans for its support with the South's Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) in the future.
The FIBT once helped the athletes of East Germany and West Germany train on either side of the border before the Berlin Wall came down, but the Germans never fielded a single squad.
In an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote earlier this month, PyeongChang beat Germany's Munich and France's Annecy to win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. It will be the first Winter Games in South Korea, and only the third in Asia.
The Koreas have marched together in Olympics and Asian Games but have never fielded a unified delegation in those competitions. In 1991, the Koreas formed joint teams at the World Table Tennis Championships and the FIFA World Youth Championship, currently the U-20 World Cup.
Talks of a possible co-hosting by the two Koreas, broached by the leader of the main opposition party in Seoul, have died down amid opposition. Critics of the idea have cited logistical and technical reasons.
The Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
On the final day of its general assembly here, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) said under the so-called "Peace & Sports" program, it would help a unified Korean team train should it ever be formed.
Under the scheme, two South Koreans and two North Koreans will compete as a single team in four-man bobsleigh in PyeongChang.
Ivo Ferriani, president of the FIBT, said a single Korean team should be able to train in PyeongChang and also in Europe, and that the federation would spare no efforts to help the athletes improve.
Ferriani told Yonhap News Agency that he would like to see sports aid the unification process of the divided peninsula, adding that sports can contribute to global peace.
The FIBT said it would discuss more specific plans for its support with the South's Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) in the future.
The FIBT once helped the athletes of East Germany and West Germany train on either side of the border before the Berlin Wall came down, but the Germans never fielded a single squad.
In an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote earlier this month, PyeongChang beat Germany's Munich and France's Annecy to win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. It will be the first Winter Games in South Korea, and only the third in Asia.
The Koreas have marched together in Olympics and Asian Games but have never fielded a unified delegation in those competitions. In 1991, the Koreas formed joint teams at the World Table Tennis Championships and the FIFA World Youth Championship, currently the U-20 World Cup.
Talks of a possible co-hosting by the two Koreas, broached by the leader of the main opposition party in Seoul, have died down amid opposition. Critics of the idea have cited logistical and technical reasons.
The Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
