The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver (Hangul: 평창 동계 올림픽; hanja: 平昌 冬季 올림픽; RR: PyeongChang Donggye Ollimpik), commonly known as Pyeongchang 2018 and marketed as "PyeongChang" is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics official emblem
| Host city | Pyeongchang, South Korea | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motto | Passion. Connected. Korean: 하나된 열정. |
|||||
| Nations participating | 100 (estimated) | |||||
| Athletes participating | 3,000+ (estimated) | |||||
| Events | 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) | |||||
| Opening ceremony | 9 February | |||||
| Closing ceremony | 25 February | |||||
| Officially opened by | Park Geun-hye (scheduled) | |||||
| Stadium | Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium | |||||
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The elected host city was announced on 6 July 2011 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. Other candidates that applied to host the games were Annecy, France and Munich, Germany. Pyeongchang won on its third consecutive bid, having lost previously to Vancouver in Canada and Sochi in Russia.
It will be the first Winter Olympic Games and second Olympic Games in South Korea; the 1988 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul. Pyeongchang will also be the third East Asian city to host the Winter Games after Sapporo, Japan (1972), and Nagano, Japan (1998).
Bidding
Main article: Bids for the 2018 Winter Olympics
Pyeongchang launched bids to host both the 2010 and 2014
Winter Olympic Games. However, despite having the most votes in the
first round of voting, Pyeongchang lost in the final round of voting by
three and four votes respectively. It finally won its bid for the 2018
Winter Olympic Games in the first round of voting. They received 63 of
the 95 votes cast, giving them the required majority to be elected as
host city.
Munich also launched a bid to host these Games. Prior to Beijing's successful 2022 Winter Olympics bid, Munich would have become the first city to host both the Winter and Summer Games, having previously hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, but only received 25 votes. Annecy launched a bid, but failed to secure public support from local citizens. Their bid ultimately just received seven votes.
48 votes were needed for selection.
| 2018 Winter Olympics bidding results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Nation | Votes | ||||
| PyeongChang |  South Korea |
63 | ||||
| Munich |  Germany |
25 | ||||
| Annecy |  France |
7 | ||||
Preparations
On 5 August 2011, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the formation of the Pyeongchang 2018 Coordination Commission.[3][4] On 4 October 2011, it was announced that the Organizing Committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be headed by Kim Jin-sun. The Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games
(POCOG) was launched at its inaugural assembly on 19 October 2011. The
first tasks of the organizing committee was to put together a master
plan for the games as well as forming a design for the venues.The IOC Coordination Commission for the 2018 Winter Olympics made their
first visit to Pyeongchang in March 2012. By then, construction was
already underway on the Olympic Village.In June 2012, construction began on a high-speed rail line that will connect Pyeongchang to Seoul.
Olympic venues 2018
The International Paralympic Committee met with the Pyeongchang 2018 organizing committee for an orientation in July 2012.[9] Then-IOC President Jacques Rogge visited Pyeongchang for the first time in February 2013.
On 27 June 2014 the PyeongChang Olympic Committee announced their mascot selection contest.[11] The contest ran from 15 September 2014 to 30 September 2014.
The 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Pyeongchang.
The Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games created Pyeongchang WINNERS in 2014 by recruiting university students living in South Korea to spread awareness of the Olympic Games through social networking services and news articles.
Venues
Main article: Venues of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics
Dragon Valley Ski Resort
Pyeongchang Mountain cluster
Alpensia Sports Park
The Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon will be the focus of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.[13][14]
- Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies[15]
- Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre – ski jumping, Nordic combined, snowboarding (big air)
- Alpensia Biathlon Centre – biathlon
- Alpensia Cross-Country Centre – cross-country skiing, Nordic combined
- Alpensia Sliding Centre – luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton
- Olympic Village
- Yongpyong Alpine Centre – alpine skiing (slalom, giant slalom)
Stand-alone venues
- Bokwang Snow Park – freestyle skiing and snowboard
- Jeongseon Alpine Centre – alpine skiing (downhill, super-G, and combined)
Gangneung Coastal cluster
The coastal cluster is located in the city of Gangneung. The Gangneung Olympic Park will include the following four venues:
- Gangneung Hockey Centre – ice hockey (men competition)
- Gangneung Curling Centre – curling
- Gangneung Oval[15] – speed skating
- Gangneung Ice Arena – short track speed skating and figure skating
In addition, a stand-alone venue is located on the grounds of Catholic Kwandong University:
- Kwandong Hockey Centre – ice hockey (women competition)
Marketing
Branding
The emblem for the Games was unveiled on 3 May 2013. It is a stylized representation of the hangul letters ㅍ p and ㅊ ch, being the initial sounds of 평창 Pyeongchang. Additionally the left symbol is said to represent the Korean philosophical trinity of heaven, earth and humanity (Korean: 천지인 cheon-ji-in), and the right symbol to represent a crystal of ice.[16]
The host city Pyeongchang is being marketed as PyeongChang with the letter "C" in uppercase (referred to as CamelCase. This is after concerns were raised that foreign visitors to the Games might confuse Pyeongchang for Pyongyang, the capital of neighboring North Korea.[2]
Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon province, acknowledges the similarities of the names of the two cities. Choi cited a case of Daniel Olomae Ole Sapit, a Maasai from Kenya who was invited to attend a United Nations conference on biodiversity
in Pyeongchang in September 2014 to justify such concerns. Sapit
mistakenly flew to Pyongyang instead, and was interrogated by suspicious
North Korean immigration officers. He was later put in a flight back to
Beijing after paying a US$500 fine.[2]
Mascots
Main article: Soohorang and Bandabi
Soohorang (수호랑), a white tiger, was announced as the official mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Sports
15 winter
sport disciplines, organized as 7 Olympic sports, are scheduled in the
2018 Winter Olympics program. The three skating sports are figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. The six skiing sports are alpine, cross-country, freestyle, nordic combined, ski jumping, and snowboarding. The two bobsleigh sports are bobsleigh and skeleton. The other four sports are biathlon, curling, ice hockey, and luge.[14]
In June 2015, four new disciplines were approved for inclusion in the
games and will feature in the Olympic program for the first time in
2018. These four are snowboarding big air, curling mixed doubles, speed skating mass start, and Alpine skiing team. Parallel slalom in snowboarding was dropped to make room for big air.[17]
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.
Participating National Olympic Committees
| [hide]Participating National Olympic Committees |
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