For the avoidance of doubt, there has never been a real possibility of the US boycotting the Games.

To borrow a phrase favoured by US President Donald Trump, any suggestion to the contrary falls under the "fake news" category.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) must be tired of all the boycott talk in recent weeks and months, particularly as they have always stressed there will be a full American team at Pyeongchang 2018.

Unfortunately for the USOC, they have been forced to issue the same denial every time a politician pipes up with a nonsensical comment.

The stance of the USOC has, quite rightly, never wavered.

Not even when US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley claimed it was an "open question" as to whether they would participate at February's Games.

Not even when Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted this week that the US should refuse to compete if North Korea do.

Because the USOC, and those involved in the Olympic Movement across the pond, knew Haley and Graham were guilty of nothing more than farcical statements and hyperbole.

Thankfully, one official in the sporting world, US Figure Skating President Sam Auxier, spoke out and said what we were all thinking when he accused Graham of "playing politics" with the country's participation.

This is not a new discussion but the USOC will hope such sentiments will disappear now concrete progress has been made this week. Trump and South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in agreed to halt military drills scheduled to be held during the event in a phone call on Thursday (January 4).

As one member of the Twittersphere pointed out, alongside a link to the White House statement confirming the news, the agreement should put the argument to bed.

The phone call came just hours before North Korea accepted a proposal to hold officials talks with South Korea on the country’s much-debated participation at the Games, the first time the two nations have held such a high-level meeting in over two years.

Kim Jong-un had set the ball rolling with his New Year’s message on Monday (January 1), when he announced that North Korea would be willing to take part.

Kim then claimed that North Korea planned to shortly open talks with its neighbours in Seoul to negotiate its team competing in Pyeongchang before he delivered his usual threat, warning 2017 was the year that his nation became a fully-fledged nuclear power.

"The United States and the Republic of Korea are committed to a safe and successful 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang," the statement from the White House read.

"President Trump told President Moon that the United States will send a high-level delegation to the Olympics.

"The two leaders agreed to de-conflict and our military exercises so that the United States and Republic of Korea forces can focus on ensuring the security of the Games."

The statement should have, in theory, silenced those who have said the US should not head to South Korea because of the proximity to North Korea of Pyeongchang and the security fears that supposedly entails.

Just a day later, however, Graham was at it again.

"As to an invitation to the Olympics, I find it odd the Olympic committee [sic] has banned Russia but seems eager to get North Korea to participate," he tweeted.

"If there was ever another country that acted outside the spirit of the Olympic Games - it is North Korea."

Of course, security must be discussed in the current climate and this has only been exacerbated by the enigma that is the North Korean leader, who has been involved in a rather humorous public bragging match with Trump regarding the size of their respective nuclear buttons in recent weeks.

But the boycott suggestions have taken the issue to an unnecessary level.

"I think they need to be careful saying things like that because these athletes have worked so hard to get there," Auxier said, according to USA Today.

"The Olympics should be above politics.

"It was a disaster in 1980 for many of the athletes that couldn't go and I'd hate to see that just because Trump and Kim Jong-un are trying to see which button's bigger.

"I don't think our athletes would boycott. They've been working all their lives for this and they want to compete.

"Who knows what Trump will tweet out, but if he were to say to boycott, unless there was a very clear reason why to do it, I don't think our athletes would boycott it."

When reading Graham's comments earlier this week, I could not help but draw comparisons with the Zika debate before the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In many ways, an American team taking part at the Winter Olympics has become Pyeongchang 2018's Zika.

The mosquito-borne disease was never far from the headlines in the build-up to Rio 2016, despite a repeated insistence from travelling teams that it would not be an issue come Games time.

There was plenty of hysteria regarding Zika following an outbreak of the virus prior to the event and it led to claims that some athletes might not compete as a result.

Save for a handful of the world's top golfers, who seemingly used Zika as an excuse to mark their frustration at having to participate at a tournament where no prize money was on offer, a couple of tennis players and a cyclist, this proved to be far from the truth.

In fact, the impact of Zika was so minimal that there were no reported cases of the virus among athletes or visitors at Rio 2016. Not a single one.

One particularly infuriating example of the pre-Rio rhetoric on Zika came in May, where a group of "leading" scientists warned it could be even more dangerous than first thought, a bold claim which was never substantiated.

The impact of the ongoing political tension in the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea's participation at Pyeongchang 2018, is likely to have as little impact on the Winter Olympics as Zika did on the summer equivalent two years ago.

As far as the American teams and athletes are concerned, it is business as usual. A number of sports have held Olympic trials over the past week, while others, such as ice hockey and luge, have already confirmed their respective squads.

No doubt those already selected will all give the "we are just focusing on our competition line", but for once this will be a refreshing quote rather than a frustrating one.