Gracie, Charlie and Ashley speak out on terror warnings | Golden Skate

Gracie, Charlie and Ashley speak out on terror warnings

TripleToe

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
"I feel that perhaps you might not travel to Sochi for a vacation but I trust that the USOC and all other appropriate federations will take care of not just the athletes but the spectators to make sure that the event is secure..."- Gracie

"You know we have full faith that all security concerns will be taken care of so we can go out and do our job." - Charlie

"You know I have the utmost faith in the Russian Olympic Committee as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee in that they will do everything they possibly can to make sure that their athletes are safe and comfortable…it’s putting the situation in their hands and I know that they want us to be comfortable enough so we can just focus on competing.”- Ashley

To read the full story: http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2014/...ng-olympic-team-speak-out-on-terror-warnings/

I'm not too concerned about this issue, i believe the Olympic committee will take care of our athletes. hope they can focus on competing, this is their dream, they have worked so hard their entire life to be ruined with a situation like this
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Unfortunately it's a real threat, more so for the spectators and journalists traveling around the area than athletes. The athletes and officials will receive the best protection, 24 hours per day.

Without getting too political, since this is a skating forum, in this day and age you also have to be careful of false flag attacks by government agencies who would like to take away civil liberties of their populations or prepare a nation for war. Russia and the United States are particularly guilty of becoming more and more a police state in recent years, and in Asia several governments have taken a turn towards ultra-nationalism and sabre-rattling.

I don't think in this case however there will be any problems at Sochi though, if anything were to happen it would be a devastating political failure for Vladimir Putin.

Let's hope the athletes and guests will all be safe, I'm sure they will be!
 

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
The USOC cannot protect anyone. It is in the hands of the Russian security forces.

I read the USOC reference as that if the USOC thought there would be severe danger, they wouldn't let the athletes go.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I am praying for the safety of all. I understand we all have different opinions and some people or peoples may be hurt. But hurting others by violence, threats or intimidation is not the answer. May the olympics be a celebration of life and comradery and the meeting of souls from the world; may it be an athletic competition and may it be full of joy and the sharing of ideas and talents. May it not become some kind of political statement, revenge or political manoevre. Iti s a sad day if we have to start questioning everyone -our neighbour. Life wasn';t meant to be lived like that. Peace out!
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
I'm also worried about all of the athletes and their families, and I pray that they'll remain safe throughout the duration of the Games. But there's really no use in asking them for their opinion -- they all gave essentially the same answer, which was likely scripted by the USOC to avoid controversy this close to the Olympics.
 

louisa05

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
"I feel that perhaps you might not travel to Sochi for a vacation but I trust that the USOC and all other appropriate federations will take care of not just the athletes but the spectators to make sure that the event is secure..."- Gracie

"You know we have full faith that all security concerns will be taken care of so we can go out and do our job." - Charlie

"You know I have the utmost faith in the Russian Olympic Committee as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee in that they will do everything they possibly can to make sure that their athletes are safe and comfortable…it’s putting the situation in their hands and I know that they want us to be comfortable enough so we can just focus on competing.”- Ashley

To read the full story: http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2014/...ng-olympic-team-speak-out-on-terror-warnings/

I'm not too concerned about this issue
, i believe the Olympic committee will take care of our athletes. hope they can focus on competing, this is their dream, they have worked so hard their entire life to be ruined with a situation like this

And you are not at all concerned about the safety of their families and other spectators?
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Like Russia has no experience in fitting terrorism or preventing it? There were two attacks in Volgograd and there was an attack on the Boston marathon. Big events = big security. I think this panic is getting really political. Trying to ruin it because its in Russia.
 

meteorlight8

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I think there are threats to EVERY big sporting event, especially the Olympics. Of course we should be concerned about safety (Putin sure is), but I think all the extra media attention and negativity directed toward Russia on this subject seem a bit much and very politically-driven (I don't approve of a lot of their policies, but I think safety should be kept as a separate issue).

Lest we forget, the Atlanta Olympics ACTUALLY had a major security breach (to say the least) - should people be pointing to that and events like the Boston Marathon bombing as reason to stay away from any Olympics hosted by the US in the future? I didn't see much coverage/speculation of this kind pre-London Olympics, and they're not the poster-child for safety either when it comes to terrorism ... Basically, glass houses ... stone ... this is not the time for politically-motivated finger pointing when all countries should be taking a united stand against this type of violence.
 
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