PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — And now: sports.
Olympics have always involved politics, but Pyeongchang is unprecedented in the way the Games became a full-tilt platform over the weekend for developments in international relations, with the two Koreas glad-handing and edging closer as the world watched.
It’s far too early to suggest that the tectonic plates of the Korean Peninsula have shifted, but surely Pyeongchang has already secured a spot in Olympic lore. There were North and South, side by side in Friday’s opening ceremony, on the hockey ice and in the dignitaries’ box, with an unexpectedly poised Kim Yo Jong, the 30-year-old sister of the North Korean leader, looking on.
The Games, so far, have been a win — at least when it comes to political optics — for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has irked the Trump administration by advocating for substantive engagement with the North.
The South Korean leader was everywhere, welcoming athletes from the North at the opening ceremony, at a luncheon in Seoul, at a hockey game watching a joint Koreas team take the ice. And there he was with Vice President Mike Pence at short-track speedskating, all smiles and handshakes.
At an Olympics with such high stakes for his country, Moon is playing a delicate game of poker. This weekend, he seemed to be raking in the chips.
Elsewhere, on the snow, the slopes and the ice of Pyeongchang’s opening weekend, there were other winners:
Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer broke his own Olympic record in the men’s 5,000 meters to win his third straight medal in the event, Felix Loch missed his shot at a third straight luge title with a wobble on the last run and, in a biathlon stunner, Martin Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Boe missed their targets and both missed out on medals.
Earlier, Simen Hegstad Krueger led a Norwegian sweep and won the men’s 30-kilometer cross-country skiathlon — despite crashing on the first lap.
Record breaker
Kramer won the 5,000 in 6:09.76, besting the mark of 6:10.76, which he set in 2014 in Sochi.
He also became the first man to win three golds in the event, using a late kick to beat Canada’s Ted-Jan Bloemen.
Kramer has a chance at winning two more golds in other events: the 10,000 next Thursday and the team pursuit.
No Loch in the luge
Loch’s reign came to a sudden and shocking end, with David Gleirscher a surprise men’s luge gold medalist and Chris Mazdzer giving USA Luge its first men’s singles medal. Germany’s Johannes Ludwig took third.
Gleirscher, who had never medaled in a World Cup singles race, finished his four runs in 3:10.702 for the gold, Austria’s first in men’s luge in 50 years.
Targeting biathlon
The 10-kilometer biathlon, expected to be a two-man race between Martin Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Boe, sent shockwaves through the biathlon world. Arnd Peiffer of Germany connected on all 10 of his targets to win gold, ahead of Michal Krcmar of the Czech Republic and Dominik Windisch of Italy.
Top-ranked Fourcade missed three of five shots from the prone position, forcing him to do three penalty laps. The Frenchman finished eighth. Thingnes Boe, a Norwegian ranked No. 2, missed three from the prone position and one from the standing position to finish a distant 31st.
Moguls gold for France
Perrine Laffont gave France its first women’s gold medal in the moguls in the 26-year history of the event, landing both her jumps without a bobble.
The 19-year-old Laffont’s score of 79.72 was more than two points better than 2014 gold medalist Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada, who had to settle for silver. Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan won bronze.
Crash and burn
An early crash couldn’t keep Krueger from gold. His Norwegian teammates then helped complete a sweep in the cross-country ski race.
Krueger slipped and fell when the mass start began. Buried deep in the field by the time he could recover. Krueger stormed back and took the lead with 5 kilometers remaining, powering his way to gold.
Norwegian teammates Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holund completed the 1-2-3 finish.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.