Bobsleigh Chief Courts North Korea

(ATR) North Korea could become the newest nation to join the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.

IBSFpresident Ivo Ferriani plans to submit a formal proposal to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and is hopeful that the isolated nation – which inspired hope while marching together with South Korea in Friday’s opening ceremony – will join the federation in the not too distant future.

"It is my goal to propose, and I had a discussion with Thomas Bach to propose North Korea to develop the program over the next four years starting with skeleton and also bob," Ferriani tells Around the Rings during an interview at Casa Italia.

"These Games start a new process of dialogue and we’re moving on – so IBSF proposes to North Korea to join our federation and then move forward with bobs and skeleton to qualify for Beijing 2022," he said.

The Italian IOC member said that bringing North Korean teams to the start line at the Beijing Olympics is a realistic possibility. But the interest of the reclusive nation remains another question.

According to Ferriani, ideally, along with taking advantage of the new 1,376-meter, 16-curve Olympic track, the country’s learning curve could be accelerated by IBSF development programs providing coaches and training tools.

"I’m sure if we start now... in 2022 North Korea can not only be present, but also very competitive," Ferriani said. "I think we must move forward after these Games.

"With a South Korean track in PyeongChang, it will be convenient to be used by North Korean athletes," he said. "I think this action we create here through Olympism must move forward using this track for development programs and also North Korea."

The new Olympic sliding center is the first ever constructed in Korea. An adjacent indoor training track – where athletes can practice starts – enhances the benefits of the new facility.

Ferriani said that the recognition process for North Korea would not be very lengthy or complex.

"That can be very easy – I want to make this proposal official very soon," he said. "Recognition from our federation can be very quick.

"As soon as North Korea expresses interest following our proposal, we will make the recognition very soon."

Ferriani has aggressively sought out new and diverse countries to slide in his sport – Ghana will have its first skeleton athlete and Nigeria a ladies bobsleigh team here at the PyeongChang Olympics. North Korea could add to the IBSF’s diversity.

Currently, the IBSF has 70 member nations, 30 of them with athletes competing in PyeongChang.

Written by Brian Pinelli with reporting from Ed Hula

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