PyeongChang hosts winter Olympics
March 13, 2018
What You Need to Know
It’s that time again the commercials are out and people are getting ready for the winter Olympics airing from February 9 to February 25.
Held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, it is the second time that South Korea held the Olympics, the first being in the summer of 1988.
South Korea is 14 hours ahead of New York, and 15 hours ahead of Chicago. It’s 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles, and nine hours ahead of London (cnn.com).
Sports and Countries
The athletes will compete in seven sports — biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing — with 15 varied disciplines across all sport (cnn.com).
There are also some new countries competing this year for the first time including: Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.
Russia has had a doping problem that had put about 200 athletes out of the Russian team; 28 of their cases were overturned and 169 were deemed clean but will still not be a part of the team (Time).
Athletes
Chloe Kim, 17-year-old snowboarder, is excited to compete since she could not last Olympics due to age requirements. Kim and others like Hailey Langland, Karen Chen, Vincent Zhou, and others are looking forward to their young debut as Olympians (nbcnews).
Adam Rippon is the first openly gay athlete to compete in the winter Olympics. More guys have come out in the past few years like freestyle skater Gus Kenworthy and retired figure skater Eric Radford, who was the first openly gay athlete to win the gold (hrc.org). These confident guys are paving the way for more to come.
How Much it Costs
Tickets for the Olympics can cost $20-$1800. Also, it takes billions of dollars to host the Olympics in your country.
South Korean representative said they are prepared to spend $13 billion on this winter Olympics. The $109 million stadium presents the question: is it all worth it just for the Olympics (nprnews)?