Fewer than than 30 per cent of available rooms for next month's Winter Olympic Games have been booked in Gangwon Province despite the local Government attempting to clamp down on price hikes, it has been revealed.

Maxim Belugin, the one Russian athlete disqualified from Sochi 2014 for doping who has not yet filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, is reported to have failed a retested drug test from his home Games for steroids supposedly present in the "Duchess cocktail".

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Alex Gilady has filed a ILS2 million (£431,000/$583,000/€487,000) lawsuit against two women who publicly accused him of sexual harassment.

Pyeongchang 2018 have sent out a memo urging those considering attending the Winter Olympics and Paralympics to take advantage of 18,000 hotel rooms in the local area and a further 27,000 within one hour of the venues.

A Main Press Centre (MPC) due to house almost 3,000 accredited media during Pyeongchang 2018 has officially opened today with exactly one month to go until the Opening Ceremony.

North Korea aside, the two most interesting sporting political stories of 2018 so far have highlighted how the landscape has changed but that many problems still remain.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said they will continue talks over North Korean involvement at Pyeongchang 2018 at "very short notice".

Russian skiers Nikita Kryukov, Alexander Bessmertnykh and Natalia Matveyeva have reportedly become the latest from the country to appeal their suspensions from the Olympic Games to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

In February 2006, it was announced that curling at the very first Winter Olympic Games at Chamonix in 1924 was part of the official programme and not a demonstration event as many authoritative sources had previously claimed. This official confirmation by the International Olympic Committee was the culmination of an investigative campaign begun by the Glasgow-based newspaper The Herald, on behalf of the families of the eight Scots who won the first curling gold medals. The winning team was selected by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Perth, the mother club of curling.

Russian sliders including Alexander Tretiakov and Elena Nikitina will remain eligible to compete internationally after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided that they have no jurisdiction to rule on an appeal filed against a decision made by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation's (IBSF) own Anti-Doping Hearing Panel. 

Former International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes' Commission chair Claudia Bokel has taken up a new post at a foundation dedicated to eradicating cheating in sport.

Parade uniforms for the neutral Russian team at Pyeongchang 2018 have reportedly been approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

I found myself re-reading a somewhat over-ambitious article I wrote almost exactly two years ago looking ahead to some expected and hoped-for Olympic developments in 2016. A few, such as a strong Paris 2024 bid, were realised while most others occurred belatedly or not at all. This inspired an urge to compile a similar list on the first day of what should be a quieter year on the administrative front in 2018, but probably won’t be.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has defended the decision to ban Russia from Pyeongchang 2018 over doping but allow its athletes to compete under a neutral banner if they can prove they are clean.