The head of the Japanese delegation at the Winter Games apologized on Wednesday for an incident in which three members of the delegation were caught pointing a gun outside a hotel window near the venue of the biathlon competition.
Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, called on officials of the Olympic organizing committee to submit a letter of apology assuring them that a similar incident would not occur in the future.
A local newspaper reported earlier in the day that police saw three members of the Japanese delegation point a rifle used in the biathlon out a window at the hotel in Heber City, about 80 km away from Salt Lake City. Police said the gun was pointed in different directions and at one point was turned at them when they approached the room to warn the three coaches, who were described in the original report as athletes.
The coaches showed the police the gun was not loaded and the police told them to shut the blinds to their window and to refrain from pointing the gun outside the window again.