FX.co ★ PyeongChang: Winter Olympics 2018

Olympic symbols

At first sight, the official emblem of the Winter Olympics 2018 looks quite simple. It consists of two symbols that are much alike Korean ideographs, and they have profound meaning.

The first symbol in the emblem is the open space where the three elements symbolize harmony between the sky, earth and the human.

The second symbol represents snow, ice, and winter sports stars (athletes). The colors of the emblem are traditional for Korea and resemble the colors of the Olympic rings: blue, black, green, red, and yellow.

Asian-style Winter Olympics

Choosing PyeongChang, IOC officials pursued two goals. Firstly, they wanted to popularize winter sports in Asia, and secondly, they rewarded South Korea's urges to host the Winter Olympics. Construction of sports venues was underway even at the stage of the application processing. The fact, that the tab with PyeongChang written on it became a museum showpiece, indicates how significant the IOC's decision for South Korea is.

Thomas Bach about Pyeongchang

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach believes that the upcoming Winter Olympics will be organized at the highest level. In addition to excellent ski, biathlon, and sledge trails, PyeongChang has splendid landscapes with views of mountains and glaciers of the national park, surrounding the sports venues.

Olympic venues

The grand-scale sports competitions will take place in PyeongChang, Gangneung and Jeongseon. After the Olympics end, the athletics facilities in these cities will be used as national training centers.

Sport disciplines

There are three skiing facilities in PyeongChang.

1. The Alpensia park provides facilities for cross-country skiing, ski jumping, jumping race, biathlon, bobsled, skeleton, and luge.

2. The Yongpyong Park is a place for mountain skiing (slalom, giant slalom).

3. The Bokwang extreme park is intended for mountain skiing (giant slalom, slalom, freestyle, snowboard).

In Jeongseon there will be competitions in mountain skiing and supergiant slalom.

Mountain skiing resorts of Gangneung will host competitions in speed skating, figure skating, short track, hockey, and curling.

Alpensia Ski Center

On the territory of this international ski resort there are several parks with specially equipped tracks, where most of the Olympic events will take place.

In each sports complex there are tribunes for spectators, temporary tribunes, transport and advertising service premises, as well as sports arenas and functional zones intended for servicing athletes, spectators and the media.

PyeongChang will be the stage for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, as well as official awards ceremonies for champions.

Yongpyong Park

Many sports celebrities visited the Yongpyong ski resort. In addition to skiing competitions, the National Winter Sports Festival is organized here by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Bokwang Extreme Park

The Bokwang Park, or the Phoenix Snow Park, has numerous trails and specialized areas for winter extreme sports. During the Winter Olympics 2018 this park will host competitions in freestyle and snowboarding.

Gangneung

According to the organizers of the Olympics, Gangneung will function as the center for the coastal cluster competitions. All ice competitions will be held here.

Thus, the Gyeongpo ice palace that looks like an ice block will accommodate athletes in figure skating and curling.

At the Union Hockey Center temporary stadium, which resembles a snowdrift, hockey tounaments will unfold. Along with qualifying matches, central and medal matches will be held here. The sports arena of the University of Kwandon, which also will host some of the hockey matches, later will be used as a school building.

Competitions in speed skating will take place in the Gangneung Oval.

Jeongseon

Downhill race and supergiant competitions will be held in the Jeongseon national reserve as part of the mountain ski cluster during the Winter Olympics 2018.