Thirty-two Russian athletes are appealing to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to lift their doping bans and allow them to compete in Pyeongchang, just days before the opening ceremonies in South Korea.

The appeal comes after the International Olympic Committee’s decision in December to disqualify Russia from competing at the Winter Games, citing evidence of systematic, state-sponsored doping at Sochi in 2014.

However, 169 carefully screened Russian athletes are being allowed to compete under an Olympic banner.

Those appealing — including gold medalists speedskater Viktor Ahn and biathlete Anton Shipulin — are asking the tribunal to allow them to compete. The Court of Arbitration said it would hold a hearing to consider their request on Wednesday, but even if there was a ruling in their favor, it would be likely too late for them to compete.

“It is outrageous that there is no concrete reason which explains my exclusion from the Olympics, and furthermore people now view me as an athlete who used doping,” Ahn wrote in an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach last month.

Ahn was born in Seoul but became a Russian citizen in 2011 and skated for Russia at Sochi.

An IOC review panel on Monday blocked a similar request from 13 Russian athletes and two coaches who were cleared for Pyeongchang by the tribunal last week.

“The Panel unanimously recommended that the IOC not extend an invitation to the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 to the 15 individuals requested by the suspended ROC [Russian Olympic Committee],” said a committee’s statement on Monday.

The IOC said after reviewing each case, there were additional suspicions “about the integrity of the athletes.”

Meanwhile, in a surprise move on Monday, officers of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) tested 16 Russian female ice hockey players ahead of a training session at Pyeongchang.

The team’s coach, Aleksey Chistyakov, was quoted by RT as saying, “We have spent the last two seasons preparing for the Olympics. Facing such a political situation [amid the doping scandal] we want to prove to everyone that we are a competitive and battle-ready squad.”

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The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl on Sunday night. You could be forgiven for not expecting it — it’s never happened before. And on this historic occasion, Stephen Thompson and I sat down Monday morning to talk with some of our favorite panelists about the game and the surrounding entertainment. With us is Katie Presley, a New Orleans Saints fan without too much at stake in this game. But also with us is Gene Demby of NPR’s Code Switch team. Gene is a longtime Eagles fan who had, in terms of fandom, a lot at stake in this game.

We break down the game itself, from the built-in assumptions of Tom Brady’s inevitability to the moment when he lost the ball with just over two minutes left to play. We talk about the halftime show, which conscripted Prince into a duet with Justin Timberlake and proved once again that getting the sound mix right at the Super Bowl is very, very difficult. And we talk about Super Bowl commercials, from the endearing return of our favorite body wash pitch man to the uncomfortable juxtaposition of civil rights activism and selling trucks.

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North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, will visit South Korea as part of a high-level delegation attending the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics this week amid somewhat eased tensions between the bitter rivals.

Kim is the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and is the nominal head of North Korea, although nearly all real power is concentrated in the hands of third-generation hereditary ruler, Kim Jong Un.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is hoping for a one-on-one meeting with Kim Yong Nam during the latter’s visit, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency says.

“President Moon will be meeting with Kim, beginning with the Olympic opening ceremony,” Yonhap says, quoting an official from Moon’s office. “But it is something that should be discussed with the North’s advance delegation whether Kim will separately pay a visit to President Moon,” the official said.

“[Kim’s visit] shows North Korea’s resolve for improved inter-Korean relations and the success of the Olympics, as well as its sincere, earnest attitude,” a spokesman for Moon during a news conference on Monday.

Kim Yong Nam will be at the head of a 22-member delegation to the South, beginning Friday and staying through the end of the Games on Feb. 25.

Vice President Pence is expected to attend the Winter Games. President Trump on Friday said during a meeting with North Korean defectors that Pyongyang’s participation in the Olympics could result in “something good.”

Last month, the two sides agreed to field a joint team at the Olympics, which would march under a flag of inter-Korea unification. The two teams have done so similarly at several previous Olympic Games.

But the latest move at sports détente has not gone over well, with many in South Korea – including some of its Olympic athletes — opposed to the move.

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Nearly five months and more than 260 games since the NFL season kicked off with the New England Patriots hosting the opener, here we are once more: the Patriots, back in familiar territory after last year’s historic Super Bowl comeback, are set to square off with the Philadelphia Eagles to defend their title.

And while the Eagles enter the game as underdogs, only the betting line is offering clear-cut answers. In nearly every other respect, this game is riddled with questions.

Will Nick Foles, the Eagles’ oft-maligned backup quarterback, repeat his masterful NFC Championship performance and manage to do what seemed impossible just a few week’s ago — derailing yet another dream season from Tom Brady, Greatest of All Time™? Will a flexible, athletic Eagles offense find holes in a Patriots defense that has looked spotty at times this year? Will Justin Timberlake break out a hologram of Prince during his halftime show? (Signs on that one are now pointing to no.)

Will this Philly superfan sweat through his full-body dog costume by halftime?

Anyway, we’ll be here to answer these questions — and more! — all night. Follow along with our live-blog once the game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET. NPR and member station reporters will be covering all the action, both on the field and off.

Live Blog

Update at 5:45 p.m. ET

And then there were two — and we’re not talking about the two teams taking the field this evening. Nope: In this instance, at least, we’re talking about a much more pressing numeral: 2 degrees F.

That was what the thermometer was reading outside U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, even at the height of midday Sunday. It’s expected to continue to hover in the single digits or possibly even drop into the negatives as night falls.

All of this sets this game on a course to be the coldest Super Bowl on record. Quartz explains only the Super Bowl game day in Detroit in 1982 had an average temperature anywhere close, at 12 degrees F.

Happily for fans and players, the Minnesota Vikings had the good sense to put their home field under a dome — and pipe plenty of heat into the building while they were at it. It is positively balmy once fans make it indoors.

Martin Kessler of WBUR has spotted at least one fan in a tank top, another in shorts. It is unclear, though, how much warmth this, um, rather unconventional hardhat offers.

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