Ice Hockey UK referee-in-chief Joy Johnston will have the prestigious honour of being one of the referee supervisors for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Korea.
The Winter Olympics are taking place in PyeongChang from 9th to 25th February and Johnston will oversee officials in the women’s ice hockey tournament.
USA, Canada, Finland, Olympic Athletes from Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and Korea will compete to become Olympic champion in the eight-team tournament, which begins with two groups of four.
Johnston is no stranger to the prestigious occasion – she was referee for the women’s final at Sochi 2014 as Canada beat USA after overtime.
She said: “Being selected by the IIHF as a referee supervisor for the Olympics is an honour and a privilege.
“I’ll be working alongside some fantastic supervisors and friends; people who I look up to and who have a wealth of experience in terms of building officiating programmes and supervising officials.
“I’ll be supervising and supporting the best officials in the world and helping them realise their dreams and goals.
“For me, it is also an opportunity to contribute and to really start realising that however much I miss being on the ice, my new role gives me an opportunity to help others be successful and live out their dreams.
“Being a part of that is the real honour and I need to get it right for myself and, more importantly, for the officials depending on me.
“The next few weeks will be physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. I absolutely cannot wait for it to start.”
Ice Hockey UK chairman, Rich Grieveson, added: “This is a significant honour for Joy and it shows how well respected she is within the sport at the highest possible level.
“I would like to congratulate her on the supervisor role, I know she will do a fantastic job at the Olympics.”
