US President Barack Obama has prepared his harsh answer to Russia's "anti-gay law" by including two openly homosexual athletes in the official delegation to the Winter Olympics in Sochi and declining to attend the Games himself.

      On Tuesday, December 17, the White House announced that Billie Jean King, a gay former tennis champion, and Caitlin Cahow, a gay Olympic medalist in ice hockey, would be included in the US delegations to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games in February.

      White House officials also said in an official statement that Obama would be too busy to attend the Games, but that the delegation “represents the diversity that is the United States.” It is the first time since the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney when the US president, vice president and first lady are to be absent from both delegations.

      The US follows an example of France and Germany in excluding senior government leaders from attending the Games. That decision together with including an openly homosexual athletes seems to the protest to Russia’s so-called gay propaganda ban, which was approved in June 2014 and caused a massive international backlash.

      Many foreign officials and human rights activists expressed their fears for the safety of gay athletes and spectators at the Olympics in the Russian resort city of Sochi. The International Olympic Committee has stated that the law would not affect the safety of attendees to the Games.