FX.co ★ Pyeongchang marks one-year countdown to Winter Games

The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games are 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).

The Gangneung Ice Arena has been officially opened ahead of the ISU Short Track World Cup event this weekend, which will serve as a test event for PyeongChang 2018. In addition to short track, the 12,000-capacity venue, which took twoand a half years to complete, will also host Tthe figure skating competitions in 2018. Located in Gangneung Olympic Park, the Ice Arena is one of the six newly built venues for PyeongChang 2018. “The completion of the ice venues is a meaningful step for PyeongChang 2018," reflected Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon. “The venues will be the centre of excitement during the Games. After PyeongChang 2018, they will be returned to the public and open doors for potential athletes and create new horizons for Gangneung residents."

The IOC's Gunilla Lindberg, who is chair of the PyeongChang 2018 Coordination Commission congratulated everyone involved in the construction of this venue for their hard work and wish good luck to all the athletes to conquer the ice stadium during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018."

Seoul (RWH) A white tiger by the name of Soohorang has been chosen as the mascot for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Korea. The decision was announced by the organisers in the capital, Seoul. The name is derived from the Korean words for protection and tiger. An Asian black bear named Bandabi was unveiled as the mascot for the Paralympic Winter Games.

A year out from the 2018 Winter Olympics and everything in Pyeongchang seems under control. Stadiums are built, tickets are ready and events are decided but not everyone in South Korea is convinced it'll all go smoothly. In fact, according to a report by news agency AFP on Tuesday, almost all of the 12 venues that will host events – including the new disciplines of big air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling, mass start speedskating and alpine team skiing – now require only the lightest of finishing touches. The one exception is a new ski slope for the downhill events - none of the existing resorts have high enough mountains to provide the vertical drop required -but even that is 85 percent finished.