Everything you need to know about this years Winter Olympics!

The start of the new year has only just begun, and we’ve already got the Winter Olympics to look forward to! In just over a months time, we’ll be able to witness some of the world’s best athletes go head-to-head in a variety of our favourite adrenaline-filled winter sports. Want to know when it is? Want to know what Sports are on show? Read on!

Where is it being held?

South Korea is holding the Winter Olympics. The events will take place in PyeongChang – a county in Gangwon Province. PyeongChang is situated about 80 miles from the capital, Seoul, and is located 60 miles south of the South Korea and North Korea border.

This is the first Winter Olympics that South Korea has held, but they did host the Summer Olympics back in 1988.

When does the Winter Olympics start and end?

The Opening Ceremony for the Winter Olympic games will commence on Friday, February 9th. The Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday, 25th February. Both the Opening and Closing ceremonies will take place at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, which can hold up to 35,000 spectators.

It’s important to note that South Korea is 8 hours ahead of London.

What’s the Mascot?

The Mascot for this years games is a white tiger, named ‘Soohorang’. The White Tiger is closely associated with Korean Mythology and culture with many believing that the Tiger symbolises trust, strength and protection.

What Sports are in the Winter Olympics?

The list of Sports that are on offer are as follows.

Alpine Skiing
Biathlon
Bobsleigh
Cross Country Skiing
Curling
Figure skating
Freestyle Skiing
Ice Hockey
Luge
Nordic Combined
Short Track Speed Skating
Skeleton
Ski Jumping
Snowboard
Speed skating

The new events this year are;

Big Air Snowboarding – This is an extreme version of snowboarding in which competitors must perform complex tricks whilst simultaneously maintaining high, distance and a clean landing.

Freestyle Skiing – This is a skiing discipline which involves aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe and slopestyle – giving the participant various methods to score points.

Mass Start Speed Skating – The mass start format of Speed Skating has been tried once before back in 1932 but regularly occurs in other forms of Winter Sports. The Mass Start should provide more fun than it did in 1932 though, with 4 times as many competitors now lining up to take part in each heat!

Mixed Doubles Curling – Mixed Doubles Curling will make its debut at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Mixed doubles is a different type of curling that revolves around stone positioning – focusing more on play to the four-foot circle and the angles. Requiring only two player, mixed doubles curling is a faster version of traditional curling.

The Medals

Designed by Lee Suk-woo, the Winter Olympic medals incorporate both the Korean alphabet and the foundation of Korean Culture. Stretching across the face of the medal towards the edge, the features come together to spell out “Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018”. The diagonal lines that they create aim to represent both the history of the Olympic Games and the competitive strive of the athletes as they compete to win a medal.

The ribbon used to hang the medal is created using a traditional Korean fabric, Gapsa.

There will be a record 102 medals on offer to win this year.