2018 Winter Olympics

XXIII Olympic Winter Games

Host city	Pyeongchang, South Korea
Motto	Passion. Connected. Korean: 하나된 열정.
Events	102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
Opening ceremony	9 February
Closing ceremony	25 February
Stadium	Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium
Winter:
<  Sochi 2014 Beijing 2022  >
Summer:
<  Rio de Janeiro 2016 Tokyo 2020  >

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2018 Winter Olympics Bid process (bid details) Venues Torch relay Mascots Broadcasters Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Chronological summary Medal table (medalists) World and Olympic records Concerns and controversies Closing ceremony (flag bearers) Paralympics IOC KOC POCOG

The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XXIIIeme Jeux olympiques d'hiver^[1]) (Hangul: 평창 동계 올림픽; Hanja: 平昌 冬季 올림픽; RR: Pyeongchang Donggye Ollimpik), commonly known as Pyeongchang 2018 and marketed as "PyeongChang",^[2] is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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

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

Tickets

The ticket prices for the 2018 Winter Olympics were announced in April 2016. The ticket prices for sport events range from ₩20,000 to ₩900,000. Tickets for the opening and closing range from ₩220,000 to ₩1.5 million. Around 50% of the tickets are due to cost about ₩80,000 or less. Prices were set following research and surveys and it was revealed that prices for sports such as biathlon and luge, which remain relatively unknown in the Asian country would be cheaper in an attempt to ensure full stadiums greet the athletes at the Games. The men’s ice hockey final is the most expensive sport session and will range between ₩300,000 and ₩900,000. Figure skating is also one of the most expensive sports with tickets prices from ₩150,000 to ₩800,000.^[3]

Tickets are due to go on sale in South Korea in October 2016.^[3]

Preparations

On 5 August 2011, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the formation of the Pyeongchang 2018 Coordination Commission.^[4][5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7][8] In June 2012, construction began on a high-speed rail line that will connect Pyeongchang to Seoul.^[9]

Olympic venues 2018

The International Paralympic Committee met with the Pyeongchang 2018 organizing committee for an orientation in July 2012.^[10] Then-IOC President Jacques Rogge visited Pyeongchang for the first time in February 2013.^[11]

On 27 June 2014 the PyeongChang Olympic Committee announced their mascot selection contest.^[12] 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.^[13]

Venues

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.^[14][15]

• Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies^[16]
• 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^[16] – 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.^[17]

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

Soohorang (수호랑), a white tiger, was announced as the official mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Sponsors

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.^[15]

In June 2015, four new events 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 event. Parallel slalom in snowboarding was dropped to make room for big air.^[18]

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.

Participating National Olympic Committees

Calendar

All dates are KST (UTC+9)

February		8th Thu	9th Fri	10th Sat	11th Sun	12th Mon	13th Tue	14th Wed	15th Thu	16th Fri	17th Sat	18th Sun	19th Mon	20th Tue	21st Wed	22nd Thu	23rd Fri	24th Sat	25th Sun	Events
Ceremonies			OC																CC	N/A
Alpine skiing					1	1	1	1	1		1	1			1	1	1	1		11
Biathlon				1	1	2		1	1		1	1		1		1	1			11
Bobsleigh												●	1	●	1			●	1	3
Cross country skiing				1	1		2		1	1	1	1			2			1	1	12
Curling		●	●	●	●	●	1	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	3
Figure skating			●		●	1		●	1	●	1		●	1	●		1		EG	5
Freestyle skiing			●		1	1			●	1	1	2	●	1	1	1	1			10
Ice hockey				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	●	●	1	2
Luge				●	1	●	1	1	1											4
Nordic combined								1						1		1				3
Short track speed skating				1			1				2			1		3				8
Skeleton									●	1	1									2
Ski jumping		●		1		1				●	1		1							4
Snowboarding				●	1	1	1	1	1	1			●		●	●	1	3		10
Speed skating				1	1	1	1	1	1	1		1	1		2		1	2		14
Total events				5	7	8	8	6	7	5	9	6	3	5	7	8	6	8	4	102
Cumulative total				5	12	20	28	34	41	46	55	61	64	69	76	84	90	90	102
February		8th Thu	9th Fri	10th Sat	11th Sun	12th Mon	13th Tue	14th Wed	15th Thu	16th Fri	17th Sat	18th Sun	19th Mon	20th Tue	21st Wed	22nd Thu	23rd Fri	24th Sat	25th Sun	102 events

Broadcasting rights

Broadcast rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics in some countries were already sold as part of long-term broadcast rights deals. On 29 June 2015, the IOC announced that Discovery Communications—owner of Eurosport, had acquired exclusive rights to the Olympics from 2018 through 2024 across Europe, excluding Russia, on all platforms. Discovery will sub-license its broadcast rights to local free-to-air networks on a territorial basis. Discovery's rights deal will, initially, not cover France due to pre-existing rights deals with France Télévisions that run through the 2020 Games. Unlike previous pan-European deals, such as with the European Broadcasting Union and Sportfive, Discovery will not solely serve as a reseller, and intends to carry coverage on its regional properties, but has committed to sub-licensing at least 100 hours of coverage to free-to-air networks.^[21][22][23] In the United Kingdom, Discovery will sub-license exclusive pay television rights from the BBC (who still holds broadcast rights through 2020), in exchange for sub-licensing free-to-air rights to the 2022 and 2024 Olympics from Discovery.^[24]

See also

• 2018 Winter Paralympics
• 2018 Summer Youth Olympics

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2018 Winter Olympics.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

• Pyeongchang 2018 web site
• Pyeongchang 2018 (IOC)

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