Opening ceremony 9 February | Closing ceremony 25 February | |
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Host city Pyeongchang, South Korea Motto Passion. Connected.
Korean: 하나된 열정. Events 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) Stadium Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium | ||
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XXIIIeme Jeux olympiques d'hiver) (Hangul: 평창 동계 올림픽; Hanja: 平昌 冬季 올림픽; RR: Pyeongchang Donggye Ollimpik), and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Contents
- Bidding
- Tickets
- Preparations
- Alpensia Sports Park
- Stand alone venues
- Gangneung Coastal cluster
- Branding
- Mascots
- Sports
- Calendar
- Broadcasting rights
- References
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.
Forty-eight votes were needed for selection.
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.
Tickets are due to go on sale in South Korea in October 2016.
Preparations
On 5 August 2011, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the formation of the Pyeongchang 2018 Coordination Commission. 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. 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. In June 2012, construction began on a high-speed rail line that will connect Pyeongchang to Seoul.
The International Paralympic Committee met with the Pyeongchang 2018 organizing committee for an orientation in July 2012. Then-IOC President Jacques Rogge visited Pyeongchang for the first time in February 2013.
On 27 June 2014 the PyeongChang Olympic Committee announced their mascot selection contest. 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.
Alpensia Sports Park
The Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon will be the focus of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Stand-alone venues
Gangneung Coastal cluster
The coastal cluster is located in the city of Gangneung. The Gangneung Olympic Park will include the following four venues:
In addition, a stand-alone venue is located on the grounds of Catholic Kwandong University:
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.
The name of the host city, Pyeongchang, has been intentionally styled in CamelCase as "PyeongChang" in the emblem and promotional materials, rather than "Pyeongchang", so that the city will not be confused with the similarly-named Pyongyang, capital of neighbouring North Korea. Gangwon governor Choi Moon-soon cited a 2015 incident where a representative from Kenya, en route to a United Nations biodiversity conference in Pyeongchang, was detained by local immigration officers after accidentally flying to Pyongyang instead.
The official sport pictograms were released on 25 January 2017.
Mascots
Soohorang (수호랑), a white tiger, and Bandabi (반다비), an Asiatic black bear, were announced as the official mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Sports
Fifteen winter sport disciplines, organized as seven 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.
In June 2015, six 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 (men and women), curling mixed doubles, speed skating mass start (men and women), and alpine skiing team event. Two events, parallel slalom in snowboarding (men and women), were dropped to make room for big air.
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.
Calendar
All dates are KST (UTC+9)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. 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.