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Czech President Miloš Zeman will spend four days at the Olympic Games in Sochi, a spokesman for his office said. Mr Zeman, who will arrive in Sochi on Thursday, will dine with members of the Czech Olympic Team. On Friday, the Czech head of state is set to attend a reception held by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for foreign officials before attending the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The president would also like to see a speed skating event during his visit so that he can express support for Czech champion Martina Sáblíková. Other Czech officials who are set to visit the Olympic Games in Sochi include the speakers of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Milan Štěch and Jan Hamáček, as well as the head of the Czech Roman Catholic church, Cardinal Dominik Duka.

First Czech athletes arrived in Sochi on Thursday, eight days before the start of the Winter Olympic Games. 27 of the Czech team’s 88 members are in Russia, including speed skater Martina Sáblíková, biathletes Gabriela Soukalová and Ondřej Moravec as well as snowboarder Šárka Pančochová. Other members of the Czech Olympic team are set to depart for Sochi next week.

A large part of the Czech squad for the Winter Olympics in Sochi departed from Prague today. But local Olympics bosses are embroiled at home in political and ongoing human rights disputes.

The Czech NGO People in Need has produced a short video in English and Czech drawing attention to human rights abuses in Russia, ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Under the title Hidden Sports, it depicts the mistreatment of homosexuals and the press, which it presents as typical Russian “sports” that will not be on show in Sochi next month.

In Sports News this Monday: Tomáš Berdych fails to reach Australian Open final; Czech Olympic Committee finalizes nominations for Sochi; Czech women qualify for indoor hockey world cup, and Czech FA objects to UEFA’s planned new rules for international friendlies.

The Czech Olympic Committee has received a “terrorist threat” warning, advising the Czech sports team not to attend the Sochi Winter Olympics. A spokesman said the threat came by email on Thursday and the committee had informed the police. Other countries, including the US, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, have received similar warnings. The International Olympic Committee has downplayed the security risk, noting that the messages seemed like the random act of an individual out to cause trouble.

The Czech Foreign Ministry is to set up a consular office in the Russian city of Sochi for next month’s Winter Olympics. Around 2,000 Czech sports fans are expected to visit Sochi during the event, a Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. They have been advised to follow instructions from organisers and police officers and warned not to get into altercations with the security forces or take photographs of strategic or military buildings.

Evidently concerned over Russia’s human rights record, some European leaders have rejected invitations to attend the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in three weeks’ time. Among those who will be there is Czech President Miloš Zeman, who takes the view that sport and politics should not be mixed. Meanwhile, a great Czech Olympian is boycotting a related event in Prague because of Mr. Zeman’s presence.

President Zeman has outlined his reasons for going to the Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi next month while his counterparts from some other European states are staying away because of the host country’s stance on gay rights. Speaking to school children on a visit to the Karlovy Vary region, the head of state said the Olympics should remain a purely sporting event and that human rights issues ought to be dealt with at the political level. He said the nonsense seen in boycotts of the Moscow and LA games in the 1980s should not be repeated.

Legendary gymnast Věra Čáslavská says she will not attend an event at Prague Castle announcing the Czech team for next month’s Winter Olympics because President Miloš Zeman will be taking part. Ms. Čáslavská supported Mr. Zeman’s rival Karel Schwarzenberg in last year’s presidential election. In a letter to Czech Olympic Committee chairman Jiří Kejval quoted by the news site Lidovky.cz, she said Mr. Zeman had brought “negative energy” to Prague Castle. A seven-time Olympic gold winner, she was an advisor to President Václav Havel in the 1990s and is honorary chairwoman of the Czech Olympic Committee.