Vonn Named to NBC Team; NHL May Keep Players Home

NBC Adds Vonn

Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Vonn will join NBC as a correspondent for the U.S. coverage of the Sochi Games.

Vonn will contribute to NBC Sports and the Today Show as part of NBC's coverage for Sochi.

During the run up to the Games, Vonn will talk about athlete preparation for the Olympics as well as how she trained for the Vancouver Games.

Vonn will continue her correspondence through the entirety of the Sochi Olympics.

The Vancouver gold medalist pulled out of the games earlier this month after trying to come back from a knee injury suffered towards the end of 2013.

When asked about adding Vonn to NBC's coverage at a press conference earlier this month, NBC Sports president Mark Lazarus said it was too soon to speculate, but that he would welcome that conversation at the appropriate time. Vonn had just pulled out of the Games earlier that day.

Security Breach Could Keep NHL Players Home

A NationalHockey League official says its players will be held out of the SochiGames if the security situation changes between now and then.

BilyDaly, the deputy commissioner of the NHL, says it has taken steps toensure of its athletes. However, the situation is fluid.

"Obviously,if something significant were to transpire between now and February 9that causes us to question that conclusion, we will reevaluate," Dalytold AP.

Glasgow Seminar Opens

Glasgow 2014 organizers todayopened a chefs de mission meeting for officials of all 70 nations andterritories taking part in the Commonwealth Games.

The four-day seminar aims to provide them with all the information they need for their teams for the July 23 to August 3 Games.

Theprogram will take the chefs de mission through the Games experiencefrom the athletes’ perspective, from arrival and preparation through tocompetition and ceremonies to check out and final travel arrangements.

To familiarize team bosses with the venues, they will visit Emirates Arena, the velodrome, athletes' village and Hampden Park.

Glasgow2014 CEO David Grevemberg said, "This is an ideal time for Glasgow 2014and its partners to showcase the venues now in situ and the plans forGames time, both critical for ensuring teams are ready to support thedelivery of an athlete-centered, sport-focused Commonwealth Games.

"We remain confident in our delivery and look forward to a week of successful meetings."

Canadians Place Safety Ahead of Hockey

Canadians believesafety is more important than a gold medal in men’s ice hockey indetermining the success of the Sochi Games, according to a new poll.

83percent said it was at least somewhat important that there be nosecurity threats, while 73 percent equate success with hockey gold.

The findings come from a Harris-Decima poll published in The Canadian Press.

The numbers also suggested that interest is lower than in the last Winter Games.

"Wesaw an amazing degree of national enthusiasm for the Games we hosted inVancouver and we shouldn’t expect Canadians to get quite that engagedfor any other Winter Olympics," said Harris Decima vice president MeganTam.

Japan, Spain Announce Teams

In separate announcements, Japan and Spain named the members of their Olympic teams for next month’s Games.

Japan’s team is noteworthy for the fact that women outnumber men for the first time in the history of its Winter Games squad. This is attributed to the women’s ice hockey team participating for the first time since Nagano.

Japan will send 113 athletes total with 65 women and 48 men.

Spain, meanwhile, will send 20 athletes. The team consists of 14 men and six women. At five entrants, alpine skiers make up a quarter of the group.

Written by Nick Devlin, Aaron Bauer,andMark Bisson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.