The Latest: Protesters greet North Korean orchestra ship
By Associated Press
Feb 6, 2018 2:09 AM CST
International Olympic Committee members chat before the start of the 132nd IOC Session prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)   (Associated Press)

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics (all times local):

5 p.m.

Protesters have waved South Korean flags, torn up drawings of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and blasted loud music from loudspeakers as a North Korean cruise ship pulled into a South Korean port with an orchestra set to perform at the Pyeongchang Olympics. They also burned a paper version of the North Korean flag.

The protesters appeared to number only a few dozen or so. They were contained by hundreds of police as the Mangyongbong 92 cruise ship arrived in Donghae, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Pyeongchang.

Some crew members were visible on the deck of the ship, flying the North Korean flag, as it prepared to dock in the south for the first time since 2002.

___

12:15 p.m.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport says six-time Olympic gold medalist Viktor Ahn is among 32 Russian athletes who have filed appeals seeking spots at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The 32 athletes all failed to pass the mandatory International Olympic Committee vetting for Russian athletes — imposed as a result of Russian doping at the 2014 Olympics — and weren't invited to the Games.

As well as short-track speedskating legend Ahn, the 32 include world cross-country skiing champion Sergei Ustyugov and world biathlon champion Anton Shipulin.

The IOC hasn't said why any of the individual Russians weren't invited, but has said it used a newly available database detailing past doping when it decided who should be eligible.

CAS says a hearing is likely Wednesday in Pyeongchang.

___

11:30 a.m.

John Coates, who oversees the Court of Arbitration for Sport, says 32 Russian athletes have appealed the International Olympic Committee's refusal to invite them to the Pyeongchang Games.

Coates says "32 Russian athletes have appealed to Swiss courts and CAS again" after the IOC invited 169 Russians to Pyeongchang but left out some top medal hopes. Coates says CAS will hear the cases in Pyeongchang.

Coates didn't say whether those appeals included any of the 28 who had been banned from the Olympics for life over doping at the 2014 Sochi Games but had those sanctions overturned at CAS last week.

Russian officials requested invites for 13 athletes and two coaches from that group of 28, but were turned down by the IOC, which has also rejected other Russians citing new evidence of possible drug use in the past.

___

11 a.m.

International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has attacked the committee's leadership as soft over its handling of Russian doping.

Pound argues that "we talk more than we walk" on anti-doping, as the IOC allowed Russians to compete under the Olympic flag, rather than issuing a blanket ban.

With the Russian team formally banned, the IOC has allowed 169 Russian athletes — one of the largest groups in Pyeongchang — to compete as "Olympic Athletes from Russia," rather than neutrals. Pound says the IOC has been keener to allow Russians to compete in Pyeongchang than to punish wrongdoing.

Pound, a former chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, also says the IOC "should not be reluctant to proceed" with appeals of a Court of Arbitration for Sport decision that reinstated 28 Russians banned for doping at the 2014 Olympics.

___

9:15 a.m.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is sure to face questioning with roughly 100 IOC members gathered in frigid South Korea for the start of two days of meetings that will lead up to the opening Friday of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Bach is sure be grilled by the full IOC membership about the decision to exclude many Russian athletes for the Games despite a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that overturned doping bans for many of them.

Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has denounced the IOC move as "shameful."

Bach will try to focus on the opening ceremony and look for good news as North Korean and South Korean athletes compete alongside each other under a symbolic deal aimed at easing tension on the Korean peninsula.

About 3,000 athletes will be on hand for the opening ceremony, the first Olympics in South Korea since the 1988 Summer Games.

See 6 more photos