CAS dismisses final Russian appeals plus 34 Winter Games previews

TSX HEADLINES – for Feb. 9, 2018: All the appeals are done now, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport swept aside the last set of appeals by Russian athletes demanding to be invited to the Winter Games after their doping suspensions were overturned.

This finally sets the stage for a cold opening to the Winter Games in the open-air Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, so cold that that 43,000 spectators will be issued complimentary hats, blankets and hand and footer warmers!

We also have our final previews in Alpine Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Skeleton and Ski Jumping, covering 34 events in all in our Lane One commentary, plus:

(1) THE TICKER: The newest dust-up in the U.S. camp is the choice of who will carry the flag into the Opening Ceremony. The loser called is “dishonorable.”

(2) THE BIG PICTURE: The cold is a running problem in PyeongChang, but so are fears over winds coming through this weekend that could scramble the skiing schedule.

(3) ATHLETICS: More world indoor leaders at the Dusseldorf and Madrid meets on the IAAF World Indoor Tour, including sensational sprinting from China’s Bingtian Su, who thanks the Dusseldorf crowd … in English!

This issue includes THE BIG PICTURE, a rapid-read status report on Olympic sport; SCOREBOARD reports on Athletics, and AGENDA, our calendar of top-level international events.