A verbal exchange between a Canadian and a Russian at the Pyeongchang Games has prompted an apology, of sorts, from Canada鈥檚 Olympic team.

The Canadian Olympic Committee鈥檚 executive director of sport said Thursday at a news conference the incident happened in a cafeteria earlier in the week, but did not reveal whether the Canadian involved was an athlete, coach or support personnel, or exactly what was said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an incident, a cafeteria discussion that happened earlier in the week,鈥� Eric Myles said. 鈥漈his morning we had an opportunity to have a discussion between the two organizations and everything is OK.

鈥淲e said 鈥楬ey, if something happened, we鈥檙e sorry.鈥欌��

The International Olympic Committee is attempting to bar over 40 Russian athletes from the Games for alleged doping violations.

Russia鈥檚 participation in the Games, and the barrage of appeals filed to the Court of Arbitration for sport on behalf of those athletes, has dominated the pre-Olympic environment. Russia鈥檚 Olympic committee is officially barred form the Games due to a widespread doping controversy, but athletes that the IOC have determined to be clean are participating under the banner of 鈥淥lympic Athletes from Russia.鈥�

Myles believed tension over the controversy was a factor in the incident.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an emotional time,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of action going on internationally.

鈥淲hen we heard about this situation 鈥� honestly it鈥檚 not clear 鈥� I don鈥檛 know if it was a coach, athlete, was it really a Canadian?鈥�

Despite this lack of information, Myles said a memo was sent to the entire Canadian team to 鈥漵ay we don鈥檛 want to get in those situations鈥� as well as give the half apology to Russia鈥檚 team.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled Eric Myles鈥檚 first name.