Stacey Cook didn’t act like someone who slammed into safety netting at 80 mph last week when a downhill run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, went wrong.

The U.S. Alpine skier covered a black eye with makeup and hoped the cold in Pyeongchang will numb her aching legs. Otherwise, the four-time Olympian from Mammoth Lakes is healthy after a cringe-inducing collision that appeared certain to keep her from competing in the Games.

“I had a very violent, dramatic crash,” Cook said Thursday. “Sometimes you can’t explain why an injury happens and sometimes you can’t explain why you’re OK.”

Hours before the opening ceremony at the 2018 Winter Games, U.S. Olympic Committee officials sat down with reporters to talk about the competition but ended up answering question after question about the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

USOC Chairman Larry Probst faced most of the heat and, to some degree, side-stepped assertions that his organization deserved more blame for allowing Nassar’s crimes to continue unaddressed for years.

“The Olympic system in the United States failed those athletes,” he said. “And we are part of the Olympic system in the United States.”

Two-time U.S. Olympic bobsled medalist Elana Meyers Taylor pledged to donate her brain for concussion research in hopes of helping other female athletes. 

"I think the hardest thing for me, just being an advocate for women in sports, was knowing that women are more likely to suffer concussions but there’s not much out there on women and concussions," Meyers Taylor said Friday. "How it affects us differently, because obviously there are hormonal differences. We just don’t have the research on it."

Earlier this week, the Boston-based Concussion Legacy Foundation announced the pledge by Meyers Taylor.

An international court has dismissed appeals from 47 Russian athletes who were seeking last-minute entry into the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Olympic officials did not act in a “discriminatory, arbitrary or unfair manner” when they declined to invite the athletes.

“We welcome this decision which supports the fight against doping and brings clarity for all athletes,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement.

U.S. speedskater Shani Davis tweeted that he has “no problem” that a coin toss determined that he won’t get to carry the American flag into the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games.

Other parts of his tweet, however, suggested otherwise.

“@TeamUSA dishonorably tossed a coin to decide its 2018 flag bearer. No problem. I can wait until 2022,” tweeted Davis, who added a Black History Month hashtag.

Thursday’s Winter Olympics TV schedule. All times Pacific

6 a.m.: Ski jumping, NBC Sports Network

3:30 p.m.: Curling (mixed doubles), U.S. vs. Switzerland, China vs. Canada, NBCSN

If you want to watch the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics live as it happens, you will have to get up pretty early in the morning.

The ceremony, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will begin at 3 a.m. Pacific time and you can livestream it at NBCOlympics.com. 

But for those of us who actually enjoy sleeping, you can wait until Friday night to watch a taped version beginning at 5 p.m. Pacific on NBC. It will be repeated on NBC starting at 8 p.m. Pacific.

The Main Press Center 3 is a giant tent-like structure that contains 47 makeshift offices, most of them occupied by news organizations. One of the rooms in the temporary buildings belongs to Olympic Athletes from Russia.

Olympic Athletes from Russia, or OAR, is the designation under which eligible athletes from Russia are competing, as the country was banned from these Games because of a state-sanctioned doping program.

The OAR’s office in the press center has been a curiosity for passersby, who have looked inside to see a few people quietly seated at desks.

A day before the opening ceremony for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, officials in Salt Lake City announced plans to bid for the Winter Games in 2030.

In the byzantine world of the Olympic movement, Los Angeles figures into that decision. In a big way.

Salt Lake City had previously expressed interest in 2026, but then L.A. was selected to host the Summer Games in 2028.

At least 86 staff members and volunteers at the Pyeongchang Olympics have contracted norovirus, the organizing committee said Thursday.

That’s more than double the number of confirmed cases announced earlier this week.

Of the 86 cases, 58 are security staff members, 12 are police officers, seven work for the organizing committee, four are press support staff, and five fill other roles.