5 Olympic Teams Receive Threat Letters

But Olympic bosses say they're fake
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 22, 2014 11:25 AM CST
5 Olympic Teams Receive Threat Letters
This Feb. 10, 2012 file photo shows the Rosa Khutor downhill Olympic course prior to a training session for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, in Sochi, Russia.   (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)

More terror concerns are plaguing the Sochi Olympics following threatening letters sent to at least five teams—but authorities say they're a hoax. The letters, written in Russian, went to Olympic committees in Italy, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, and Slovakia, Reuters reports. The letter to Hungary said "persons attending the Olympic Games might be blown up," says one of the country's Olympic officials. But "both the IOC and the Sochi organizing committee ... declared after the analysis of the letter that this threat is not real."

"This person has been sending all kinds of messages to many members of the Olympic family," the Hungarian official notes, adding that the International Olympic Committee has said that the person lives outside Russia. The IOC says in a statement that the Hungary letter "appears to be a random message from a member of the public." Says a rep for the committee, per Fox News: "Please allow us to say that it would be totally wrong to describe this as a threat." Instead, it's "one person's opinion about security and terrorism. It is not a threat from a terrorist." International officials are, however, on high alert. (More terrorism stories.)

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