2018 Winter Olympics

XXIII Olympic Winter Games

PyeongChang 2018 Olympics official emblem
Motto	New Horizons (Korean : 새로운 지평)
Nations participating	90 (Estimated)

The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, is a sporting event held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the event with South Korea selected as the winning city on July 6, 2011. They are scheduled to take place February 9-25, 2018.

File:Mascots - 2018 Winter Olympics.jpg

Mascots - 2018 Winter Olympics

Olympic Facts

• Soohorang, a white tiger, and Bandabi, an Asiatic black bear are the official mascots for the games.

• The IOC decided to ban Russia from participating in the 2018 Olympics due to a lengthy drug doping investigation. Only

clean athletes from that region will be allowed to participate under the generic Olympic flag.

• This will be the third time South Korea has hosted the Olympic games.

• A new high-speed rail system was constructed to transport fans to and from the event, reducing the transport time from Seoul by half.

• The Olympic stadium costs $109 million USD to build. It can seat 35,000, but will only be used for the opening and closing ceremonies. It gets torn down after the games are over.

• New sporting events include big air snowboarding, freestyle skiing, mass start speed skating, and mixed doubles curling.

• The National Hockey League has decided that their players will not be taking part in the game because of contract disputes.

• Despite political tensions, both North Korea and South Korea agreed to compete under the same flag for the first time at a winter Olympics.

Official host city

• Pyeongchang, South Korea

Former potential bids

Asia

• Almaty, Kazakhstan
• Bursa, Turkey

Europe

On July 4, 2007, Sochi, Russia was selected to host the 2014 Winter Games, hurting European candidates' chances at a successful bid. The IOC rarely awards back-to-back games to the same continent.

• Munich, Germany
• Upper Carniola, Slovenia
• France
  • Annecy (eliminated)
  • Hautes-Alpes (eliminated)
  • Grenoble (eliminated)
  • Nice (eliminated)
• Sofia, Bulgaria
• Tromsø, Norway (cancelled bid)

North America

America was going to submit a bid, but the country changed its bid to the 2022 Winter Olympics. Here are the cities which had showed interest:

• United States
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Reno/Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California
  • Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Detroit, Michigan

South America

• Santiago, Chile

References

Olympic Games
Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, (1916), 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028
Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012 — Sochi 2014 — Rio 2016 — Pyeongchang 2018 — Tokyo 2020 Games in italics will be held in the future, and those in (brackets) were cancelled because of war. See also: Ancient Olympic Games