Sochi Olympics: American Athletes Told They’re Walking Targets

Keeping with what we’ve come to expect over the last couple of years, pretty much all news out of Sochi is bad news. Recently we learned there are at least three female would-be suicide bombers wandering the Olympic village and athletes will be dropping deuces two at a time.

Well now it seems American athletes have a lot more to worry about than the bathroom situation. According to multiple reports, the U.S. Olympic Committee has told athletes that wearing team colors could make them a potential target for terrorists.

The three potential suicide bombers have already gotten through the security cordon surrounding Sochi, making them a very serious threat to the games. In December two bombings one day apart in Volgograd, which is 400 miles from Sochi, killed 34 people and injured dozens more.

Not long after the bombings, a radical Islamic group gleefully claimed responsibility for the attacks and warned ominously of more to come. The U.S. State Department recently reported an “uptick in threat reporting” in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, which begin on February 7th.

Americans have been warned against donning red-white-and-blue uniforms, “you don’t want to advertise that far outside the Olympic venues,” said one State Department official. The U.S. Olympic Committee said athletes have been advised “that wearing conspicuous Team USA clothing in non-accredited areas may put your personal safety at greater risk.”

So…that’s awful. Frankly, this all seems like way too much trouble to go through for the Winter Olympics. At this point who could blame any athlete that decided to follow the lead of many of their family and friends and cancel the trip altogether.