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dontshootmespence · 6 years

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Swan Song

A/N: The start of a Winter Olympian AU for @illegalcerebral‘s AU Challenge! Also, go follow her because everything she writes is awesome! That being said, I know I can’t make this into a one shot because I’m a masochist, but I’m not actually sure how long this is going to be.

P.S. I’m doing as much research into rules and regulations and the moves of each sport, but they may not all be completely accurate. I’m trying the best I can.

Chapter 1

Cue internal raging.

Emily Prentiss was flat out in the pipe having whiffed the Double McTwist 1260 again. She was so damn close. If she could land it in competition, she would be the first woman ever to do it. She wanted it so goddamn bad.

Pushing up, she hopped and slid down the rest of the pipe to where her coach was waiting. Markus Leskov was one of the best coaches in the world; the only reason she’d been able to afford his services was because her mother had pulled strings, but that’s all her mother had done for her.

For the last 18 years, Emily had worked her ass off to gain her mother’s attention; she knew it - she didn’t try to fight it. Granted she loved snowboarding too; she was pretty sure ice ran through her veins in more ways than one, but the reason she pushed herself so hard was because she hoped that her mother would finally peel herself away from her work for a split second to notice her again.

“Am I deluding myself?” She asked Marcus. “Can I hit this?”

Leskov hadn’t told her, mostly just because he was never the kind to show a ton of affection, but he had never trained a harder worker and doubt he ever would. “You can. You’re not leaning into enough because the backside rodeo isn’t as smooth as it could be. You come out of that smooth and you’ll nail it. Go again.”

“Get up, Prentiss!” Her teammate and competitor Allyson Reid screamed.

Snickering, Emily took a deep breath and saluted her coach before heading back up. “Got it, coach.” He believed in her...that should be enough, right?

“I love you, too,” Matt said into the phone. “Take care of the little man and the even newer little man.”

Kristy laughed as she ran her hand over her ever-protruding belly. “Love you. Bye, honey,” Kristy replied. Their second son, Jake, was due in a month, so she hadn’t been able to accompany Matt to the Olympics this year; she didn’t feel too bad though. His mother and father had gone with him and she and their eldest son David, would be watching on TV.

David was so excited about getting to see his father on screen. I’m gonna be just like daddy when I grow up, he’d said as he made a sign for him. Matt couldn’t see it obviously, but David was going to hold it up anyway and send the pictures from across the globe.

After hanging up the phone, Matt handed it off to his coach and sped around the rink. He was competing in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races, as well as the team pursuit. His legs were going to turn into jelly, but it was nothing like the pain that Kristy went through before and would be repeating in a matter of weeks, so he considered him blessed and leaned into the turn.

“I’m in!”

Spencer Reid spun around, his hair smacking into his face as he turned to see his friend of 20 years, Jennifer Jareau. The previous day he’d been notified of his acceptance to the American skating team; he was in his early, almost mid-20s. In skating age, that was pretty ancient - almost retirement age, so this was his last shot, and it was JJ’s too. “You’re on the team?”

“Yes!” JJ skated toward him, her white practice dress floating gently in the breeze she created. “I made it! This is the last chance for us, yea?”

Nodding, Spencer spun her around and started going through his routine in his mind. “I’d say so, so let’s give it our all and go out with a bang, okay?” He grabbed her hands and spun around in a circle. He’d been practicing day in and day out for nearly 20 years straight. He’d been so close in the past and so had JJ; they’d worked too hard for this.

"I plan on it.”

“Damn right, you do!” JJ turned around to see her sister, Rosaline, and coach, Alex Blake glide out onto the ice. Rosaline won the gold at the 2010 Olympics; JJ always wanted to be like her. This Olympics was her last shot to do it.

As if she could sense JJ’s thoughts, Rosaline cupped her sister’s face in her hands. “Stop comparing yourself to me. Your routines are amazing. If you nail them, the gold is yours. They’re the most difficult of the women’s routines. You’ll practice and the moment you step on that ice you’re gonna let everything go and have fun because this is what you love, okay?”

JJ swallowed the lump in her throat and rested her head against her sister’s before shooting Alex a hesitant smile. Rosaline was right, but letting things go was easier said than done. “Alright, I’m ready to start. Let’s do this,” she said with a huff of air and an even deeper breath.

“What about Spencer?” Alex asked, reaching out to greet the young man she’d come to know over the years. "You done yet?”

“No, but I’m still waiting for Hotch to get here. He’s running late today,” Spencer replied. His coach, Aaron Hotchner had come down with the flu recently. He, his wife Haley, and son Jack had been passing it back and forth - leaving him to coach Spencer over Skype. “Spencer, I can’t coach you in person right now. I can’t risk getting you sick before you try out for the Olympics!”

That had actually been for the best, but it was going to be nice to see his coach again. Despite his seniority, Spencer considered Hotch a friend; he’d put faith in him and his abilities when so few would, and had even slashed the price of services after seeing Spencer’s mother work herself to the bone to give her son and daughter the best shot at succeeding in the sport. “You start. I’ll wait for Hotch and watch your routine. I don’t think I’ve seen the whole thing yet.”

“And I haven’t seen yours either”

“You will.”

Searing pain ripped through her the second she hit the ground. “Elle Greenaway, 19, of the United States is down!” The announcer was speaking. What happened?

“Do you know your name?”

“Elle Greenaway,” she replied softly, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. She was going on her gold medal run. “What happened?”

“Freak accident. One of your skis flew off mid jump.” In a panic, she looked down; she could barely feel her lower half. “Don’t move,” the man insisted.

“I can’t feel my legs...I can’t feel my legs...I can’t feel my legs...”

As her feet hit the ground, she smiled. Her father jumped up and down, screaming about how amazing his “little girl” was until she skied up to him, embracing him. “How did that feel?” He asked. Beside him, her mother was sobbing.

“Good,” she breathed. “So good.”

“We couldn’t be more proud of you, Elle,” her mother said, sniffling.

On that day eight years ago, she had fractured one her lower vertebrae; it took years of physical therapy and additional years of competing again to get back to where she’d been, but she was here. The Sochi Olympics had passed her by, and for a time following the 2014 games she found herself in a slump, but with her parents’ encouragement, she pushed through. Once again, she had a shot at gold.

Her skate hit the ice and they both screamed.

Penelope Alvez nee Garcia screeched in delight. Her mouth dropped open and her husband came up behind her, hugging her tightly. “Increible, mi reina,” he whispered softly.

“You too, my love,” she replied, reaching back and rubbing his cheek with the palm of her hand. They had been practicing together for more than two decades now, and only now had they been able to consistently land one of the hardest moves in the art of pairs skating - the throw triple axel. “We really have a shot this year. We could win.”

“As long as I’m with you, I always win,” Luke said.

Penelope snorted, her face blushing under the adulation of her husband and the cool breeze coming off the ice as they skated. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” This was going to be their last Olympics together. Presumably, they’d always be skating; both felt like it was in their blood, but after this year, they wanted to focus on something else - starting a family.

For the last year, they’d been happily married, and both husband and wife wanted nothing more than to add to their family and introduce all the little Alvezes to the sport they loved so much. “Now all we have to do is make sure we nail the throw triple axel, the death spiral, the 2 overhead lifts, the jump sequence, the pair spin and the choreography and we have this in the bag,” Penelope said, shrugging under the pressure.

“The throw was the hardest and we’re doing it consistently. We’ve got this.” Luke had more than enough faith in them for the both of them. Years from now, he was sure they’d be able to tell their kids about the time mommy and daddy won gold at the Olympics.

It felt weird not being on the slopes. Kate Callahan had never done any other activity during her years in school and beyond. After seeing the Olympics as a child, specifically Heidi Preuss, she told her parents she wanted to ski. They’d tried getting her into other sports as well. They’d attempted to get her into musical instruments. But she wanted nothing else than to ski. “You think you’re ready?” Her coach, Maureen Zechmeister asked as they clinked glasses. It wasn’t booze, but it was a toast all the same. She only asked because she wanted to gauge Kate’s own belief in herself.

“I think I’ve got this. I’m gonna medal. I can feel it,” she smiled, taking a sip of her Diet Coke. In 2014, she nearly qualified, but came in fourth during qualifications. The past four years had been non-stop training and she’d qualified in first.

She and Maureen arrived in Pyeongchang a few days ago and had been training ever since, but Maureen was not about training oneself into the ground. “I do too. You’ve been training hard.” Her parents emerged from around the corner and waved. “You ready to eat?”

“Ummm...always.”

“Now, what did you do wrong?” Rossi asked as he approached Derek sprawled out on the slope.

Like his sister Desiree, Derek sought constant perfection in the hopes of proving their living mother and now deceased father proud. Little did they realize that both had always and would always remain proud of the three children they loved so much. David had first hand knowledge; he’d started as Derek’s coach after his father died. Promise me you’ll help his mother and look out for him.

Derek looked up, his brow furrowed in aggravation. “I’m trying to hard to make the best time and I’m bombing,” he said flatly, referring to the act of going recklessly fast down the slope.

“Exactly,” Rossi replied. “You want to carve, not bomb. You have this; you’re just pushing yourself too hard.”

Extending his hand, Rossi helped Derek up and caught his attention. “Hey, kid. Look at me.”

Derek was frustrated, his eyes scanning far off in the distance. He knew what Rossi was going to say and although he appreciated it, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear right now.

“What am I, wood?” Rossi chuckled, slapping Derek’s shoulder. Once he had his attention, he continued. “You have all the skill necessary to win every event you’re in.” He hated seeing Derek so heavy with emotion. “I know why you try as hard as you do. He is proud. No matter whether you win or not. You know what he said to me all the time? Practically every day before he went to work?”

“No, what?” He actually didn’t know. “He told me he was proud all the time, encouraged me and everything , but...that’s a parent thing.”

Rossi huffed and leaned against the pole. “No, that’s a good parent thing,” he replied. Rossi was with Joy how Derek’s father had been with him. “He encouraged you and supported you and lived his life the way he did because he believed, and I quote ‘children are apt to live up to what their parents believe of them.’ He thought the world of you and your sisters, and you’ve already exceeded expectations, okay?”

Jabbing his poles into the ground, Derek took a deep breath of the cool mountain air and smiled despite himself. “Deep down, I know it. It’s just...”

“It’s hard,” Rossi finished. “He’s never far from your mind.”

“Exactly.”

It astounded Tara Lewis that her father could watch her come down the track in Olympic record pace for luging and yet say nothing, but this is how it had always been. He attempted to be fatherly by physically placing himself in her presence, but he never really showed her any indication of pride - only resentment that she had succeeded where he brother had failed.

Steven had always been the favorite - typical son over daughter bullshit, but honestly, Tara was pretty sure that if her father hadn’t been exactly how and who he was, she wouldn’t be where she is now. Tara worked harder and harder every day with her coach, Alexandra Heismer (who was more of a parent than her father had ever been), in order to succeed proudly, and in his face. “Olympic record pace, Dad!” She exclaimed, purposely pumping her fists in the face of his disappointment. “At this rate, I could pull out a world record run.”

Pulling off her helmet, she let her hair fly free and smiled up at the board. “Opening ceremony is tonight, so I’m gonna stop on a high today and go get ready.”

“You think you’ve trained enough?” Her father asked. There was a distinct hint of jealousy in his voice, not for himself, but for Steven.

Tara nodded as she walked away. In 2010, she placed 5th. Four years later, she won bronze. This year was her golden run, and hopefully 2022 would follow suit. “Definitely. It’s my year.”

It was the Americans turn to enter the stadium. Everyone gathered into a large group, intermingling by sport. “Ready?” Tara asked the woman standing next to her.

“Oh me?” Emily replied. “Yup, I’m ready to go. What are you competing in?”

“Luge. You?”

“Snowboard cross and halfpipe.” Emily took in the look on the other woman’s face - almost free. “You look happy.”

“I am,” Tara replied. “I’ve worked my ass off, and I can’t wait to shove my success in my father’s face.”

Emily snorted as the group began to walk. “You have parent issues too? And we’re walking together. Fantastic,” she said. “Although I live and breathe snowboarding, I am wondering if my mother will actually give a shit if I medal.”

As they continued on, they found out that they were competing, for the most part, on opposing days. “You cheer me on, I’ll cheer you?” Tara asked.

“Sounds good to me.”

“What about me?” Ally butted in after giving her brother a tackle hug. She’d been training so hard she hadn’t seen him since they landed in Pyeongchang the week before.

They marched onward with the rest of the American athletes, meeting up with people they’d known for years and introducing themselves to those they’d never met. The two women were familiar with Spencer Reid and Jennifer Jareau, considering that figure skating tended to be the most spoken about winter sport. Emily had met Spencer before, but do to the Reid twins both being involved in sports, they never really got the chance to know each other. She was stunned that she’d never met Derek Morgan before though, she had heard his name in passing.

In turn, Spencer and JJ met up with Luke and Penelope, having last seen them at their wedding the year before. Though they lived across the US from each other, they kept in touch after meeting years earlier at the World Championship.

JJ also saw Elle Greenaway from across the group and ran over with Spencer in tow to introduce herself and tell her how inspirational she found her. “I watched your first Olympics when I was 16, and my heart broke for you, but I’ve been following your career ever since. Spencer and I are actually going to be there tomorrow when you compete.”

“That’s amazing! It’s so nice to met you both,” Elle replied with tears in her eyes.

They were nearing the halfway point when Matt introduced himself to JJ and Spencer introduced himself to Kate. The entire group of nearly 300 American athletes delving into random conversations about their sports or what they happened to have for lunch that day. It was somehow small scale and the largest scale possible.

It didn’t matter whether or not it was their first games, their second or without a doubt their last, walking at the opening ceremony and competing as a whole left them all euphoric - pressure be damned.

@jamiemelyn @coveofmemories @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @unstoppableangel8 @rmmalta @lukeassmanalvez @veroinnumera @lookwhatyoumademequeue @kalie-bee @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @beereadsthings @cherry-loves-fanfic @bitchinprentiss

#spencer reid #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #david rossi #penelope garcia #derek morgan #alex blake #kate callahan #elle greenaway #erin strauss #matt simmons #tara lewis #luke alvez #garvez #swan song

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mysticseasons · 6 years

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Air Canada proudly flies the flag with renewed Canadian Olympic and Paralympic partnership

- Official Airline for Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams for PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020

TORONTO, December 18, 2017 – Air Canada announced today that it has renewed its sponsorship as the Official Airline of the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee. The four-year agreement extends through the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“As Canada’s official airline, we believe our country deserves to be celebrated,” says Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada. “The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams represent the best of Canada, showing off the ambition and drive of our people. We’re proud to be a piece of home connecting those athletes to their country while they’re abroad, and helping to make sure they arrive ready to perform at their very best.”

“We’re thrilled to be renewing our relationship with Air Canada for another four years,” says Chris Overholt, CEO and Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “Games after Games, our athletes have experienced the world-class comfort and surpassing professionalism that Air Canada offers.”

“As a world class travel partner, Air Canada plays an important role in our athletes’ care and comfort while travelling to the Games, which has a direct positive impact on their readiness to compete,” said Karen O’Neill, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Air Canada has been a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team since 1988 and a sponsor of Canadian Paralympic Team since 2007. The partnership builds on Air Canada’s commitment to Team Canada from their efforts at Rio 2016, when Air Canada flew more than 690 Canadian athletes, coaches and support staff to Brazil.

Through these arrangements, the airline provides special services and transport for competitions. As well, under the renewed agreement Air Canada will:

Renew its Altitude Podium Program to provide qualified athletes 35K status and access to International Maple Leaf lounges while competing abroad;

Give athletes individual Care & Share packages for added comfort during the flight and include memorabilia they can share with others at the Games;

Sponsor the outdoor area, available to the public, at Canada Olympic House in PyeongChang;

And host airport celebrations as athletes arrive at and return from the Games.

To further show its support, Air Canada has entered into an agreement with five high-profile athletes who will be featured in a campaign beginning in January. They include figure skaters Patrick Chan, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; freestyle skier (halfpipe) Cassie Sharpe; and Paralympic biathlon skier Mark Arendz.

#Tessa and Scott #Air Canada #2017 #Air Canada 2017 Announcement

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winterolympicssports2018-blog · 6 years

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(3rd LD) Main part of S. Korean art troupe arrives in N. Korea

Click here for More Olympics Updates https://www.winterolympian.com/3rd-ld-main-part-of-s-korean-art-troupe-arrives-in-n-korea/

(3rd LD) Main part of S. Korean art troupe arrives in N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES in paras 1-3 with arrival; CHANGES headline; EXPANDS dateline)

SEOUL/PYONGYANG, March 31 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) — The majority of the South Korean art troupe and taekwondo athletes scheduled to give performances in Pyongyang ahead of a historic inter-Korean summit arrived in North Korea on Saturday.

The 120-member group led by Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Do Jong-whan left Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport at 10:30 a.m. aboard a chartered civilian flight and arrived at Pyongyang’s Sunan airport around 11:30 a.m. via a direct air route between Seoul and Pyongyang over the Yellow Sea.

North Korea’s culture minister Pak Chun-nam and Hyon Song-wol, head of the North’s all-female Moranbong Band, greeted them at the airport, according to a pool report.

Members of South Korea’s main team head to Pyongyang from Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on March 31, 2018. The team is made up mostly of Korean pop artists set to perform twice in Pyongyang the following week in a cross-border cultural exchange ahead of an inter-Korean summit on April 27. (Yonhap)

The group, including celebrated K-pop artists such as Cho Yong-pil, Red Velvet and Seohyun, is part of the 190-strong South Korean delegation set to visit North Korea for rare artistic performances on Sunday and Tuesday.

A 70-member technical crew flew into the North on Thursday to prepare the stages ahead of the two concerts in Pyongyang.

Also in the group traveling Saturday are staff members, taekwondo performers, journalists and government officials tasked with supporting the performers.

The performances will be the first by South Korean artists in the North since 2005, when Cho Yong-pil had a solo concert in the North’s capital.

Do Jong-whan, minister of culture, sports and tourism, attends a congratulatory event at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul before departing for Pyongyang for a four-day visit, leading a 190-member South Korean delegation, mainly Korean pop musicians, on March 31, 2018. (Yonhap)

“I, along with Korean pop musicians, will do my best to make the historic first Pyongyang concerts by South Koreans in 13 years successful,” Do said in a statement he read at the airport. “I hope the inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation that resumed during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will further increase with the South Korean art troupe’s performances in Pyongyang an occasion.”

He pledged to do all he can to have the culture and sports fields open the way for peace on the Korean Peninsula and inter-Korean reconciliation.

While in Pyongyang, Do said, he will meet with North Korean figures in the fields to discuss ways to expand cooperation.

Yoon Sang, a popular composer who is the musical director of the art troupe, also vowed to give his best to complete the shows successfully.

“I feel honor and unexplainably high pressure at the same time,” Yoon said at the airport event. “We’ll do our best out of the aspiration that a spring of peace should come to the Korean Peninsula as in the concerts’ title ‘Spring Comes.'”

K-pop legend Cho said: “I will comfortably perform in the North as I do here. I and all other singers already finished practicing, are not nervous now, and will show our music in a pleasant and comfortable mood. We’ll return after performing well.”

This composite photo shows 10 South Korean artists and a girl group set to perform in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)

Eleven Korean acts are in the lineup of the concerts, which are together titled “Spring Comes”: Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, Choi Jin-hee, Yoon Do-hyun, Baek Ji-young, Red Velvet, Jungin, Seohyun, Ali, Kang San-eh and Kim Kwang-min.

They will perform at the 1,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theater on Sunday for two hours starting at 5:30 p.m. (South Korean time) and take part in a joint concert with North Korean artists for two hours on Tuesday afternoon at the 12,000-seat Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium. The shows will be taped and edited by South Korea’s public broadcaster MBC to be made into a joint TV program for both countries.

Only four of the five members of Red Velvet — Wendy, Irene, Selgi and Yeri — will attend the concerts as Joy said she will be absent due to scheduling conflicts with her TV show. The girl group is to sing two of its recent hits: “Red Flavor” and “Bad Boy.”

According to sources, Seohyun of Girls’ Generation will host the Pyongyang concerts. She made a surprise collaboration with North Korean singers during the historic Seoul performance by the North’s Samjiyon artistic group last month.

The South Korean delegation will return home Tuesday night.

The main group of a South Korean artistic group poses for photos ahead of their departure from Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport to Pyongyang on March 31, 2018. (Yonhap)

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#Olympic Tour #Olympics athletes #Winter Olympics Sports

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goarticletec-blog · 5 years

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Justin Olsen Will Get Lost

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/justin-olsen-will-get-lost/

Justin Olsen Will Get Lost

Feb 8, 2018

Justin Olsen’s start is perfect.

It’s a frigid November evening in Park City, Utah, and the gold medalist’s final run on Park City’s bobsled track. After three races and two days competing against twenty-three teams at the Bobsled World Cup, this will earn him the points he needs to get to Pyeongchang.

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The four-man team hunkers down in the bullet-shaped sled: Olsen first, in the driver’s seat, with three push men (responsible for furnishing a thigh-crunching boost of power) behind. They gain speed through curves one, two, three, gravity thrusting the sled down. Spectators spring onto their tiptoes; a kid whoops and punches the air as the sled barrels through curve six.

Olsen (top, right) consults his teammate, Evan Weinstock, before a run at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex.

Joao Canziani

Half bent over, in helmets and matching skintight navy-blue suits, thirty-year-old Olsen—the gold-medalist push man turned pilot—and his teammates are nearly impossible to differentiate from each other. Together, the team looks more like a giant whooshing snap pea than a quartet of elite athletes. Bobsled is a balancing act, and shaving off a few hundredths of a second comes down to Olsen’s power, speed, and precision.

In his 2013 memoir, But Now I See, legendary bobsled driver and Olympic hero Steve Holcomb likened bobsled to ballet. It’s an apt analogy. These men could blend in on an NFL sideline, but they’re actually burly ballerinas, exploding off the starting block tiptoed in steel-plated shoes that flex like a leather slipper, and mirroring each other with near-perfect synchronicity.

Holcomb led the U.S. Men’s Bobsled Team to three Olympic medals, ten World Championships, sixty World Cup tour medals, and served as Olsen’s unofficial mentor. If things had gone according to plan, Holcomb would’ve been piloting down this slippery, fifteen-turn track. But in May 2017, Holcomb was found dead in his dorm room outside of Lake Placid, New York, upending U.S. Bobsled’s plans and expectations. Olsen was left to grieve his friend and advocate—and get back in the sled. With only a few short months to spare, he had to figure out not only how to lead a team he wasn’t supposed to be leading, but also how to find a way to the Olympic podium.

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Spectators at the Lake Placid bobsled track wait for the next sled.

Joao Canziani

Bobsled might not seem as dangerous and difficult as it is. If you’re watching a race on TV, say, it could look as if there’s not much to it: What else is there to do besides jump in a sled on an ice-coated slide and let gravity take over?

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But bobsled is wild. If you know nothing about the sport outside of the movie Cool Runnings, here’s how it works: In either the two-man or four-man race, one or three brakemen (or push men) push the 450-pound sled. The driver (also called the pilot) steers by tugging on D-rings, like taut sleigh reigns. Once they’re off, bobsled speeds can exceed ninety miles per hour, with each rider plastered to his seat by more G-forces than astronauts experience at takeoff. Every turn on the track is like getting kicked in the groin and chest while a truck sits on your head, Olsen told me. It’s almost like the nauseating pull of a roller-coaster loop, but 100 times more intense.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation

The goal is to maintain fluidity, to not crash or fall over. The subtlest of movements can mean the difference between a gold medal and missing the podium entirely. If the driver catches a curve too late, or comes off early, the sled can flip and plummet down the track, ejecting the riders onto a sheet of ice that cheese-grates the skin.

And bobsled drivers barely get a chance to practice before competing, upping the stakes on the entire enterprise. There are only sixteen tracks in the world, each with its own set of curves, gradients, and conditions. So pilots have to memorize them, walking down a track to quickly learn its quirks before getting in maybe three runs prior to a major race. (Imagine if NASCAR drivers, jockeys, or speed skaters had less than five minutes on their tracks before go time.)

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Piloting requires not just skill but a hefty dose of intuition, since it’s impossible for a driver to see much more than a few feet in front of him in the twisting, thunderous tunnel of ice. It also demands the ability to mentally disconnect. It’s not about strategic thought, but about letting go, almost like getting lost, and somehow finding the right amount of control in a largely uncontrollable craft.

“Every run down the track is kind of like a car crash,” Olsen says. “Like an old car hitting a really long patch of ice.”

Joao Canziani

Who would want to repeatedly relive a car crash? As a job?

Olsen might not have dreamt of becoming a bobsled champion growing up (not many kids do), but he was built for it. Born to two competitive athletes—his dad played football and basketball, while his mom ran track—Olsen was raised in West Texas and immersed in the Texas faith of football. Early on, he showed a propensity for two traits bobsled coaches love: a hunger for speed and an utter lack of fear, no matter how turned around he might’ve been. At age four, says Olsen’s mom, Kim, he took off his bike’s training wheels so he could go faster. (He suffered his first concussion shortly after, when he flew over the handlebars and landed on his face; in sum, he’s had around ten.) As he grew up, he’d wander off aimlessly into the woods and fields around his home for hours, somehow always navigating his way back home. “He’d come back with scraped shins, dirt splotched across his face, bruised up, and mosquito bites covering every inch of him,” says Kim.

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When Olsen was ten, his football coaches told his parents that he showed boundless promise, thanks to his abnormal commitment to extra practice time and his untamed exuberance on the field. He went on to play football at the Air Force Academy, where he studied engineering, a dream asset for bobsled, since athletes are tasked with repairing their own sleds. But he didn’t stay long—“I wasn’t ready for that kind of structure”—and went back to Texas, where he worked multiple jobs and took engineering classes, unsure of what to do next. “He was sort of just…lost,” Kim says.

One day in 2007, Kim heard a radio ad calling for athletes with strength, speed, and a high vertical jump. “And something about bobsledding,” she says. “In San Antonio, of all places. I figured Justin had all those things, so I told him to go.”

Joao Canziani

Olsen and four other guys showed up and went through the paces. Team USA coaches invited him to travel to Lake Placid, New York, the headquarters of U.S. Bobsled, to be evaluated for the team. “It felt like it was right to at least give it a shot,” Olsen says. He was nineteen and broke, so he sold his motorcycle, stereo—anything he could find to pay for the plane ticket. “I thought he was out of his mind,” Kim recalls. But a few weeks later, after cutting it in early tryouts, he called home with news: He was moving to upstate New York.

The sliding track suited him. He craved its explosive starts and the adrenaline of winning by .01 seconds. “He didn’t mind that when you’re making it in bobsled, you end up riding in a sled that gets flipped over by amateur drivers,” says Brian Shimer, U.S. Bobsled’s head coach. Physically, Olsen was a near-perfect push man: tall, with broad shoulders and knotty legs that could lift the entire U.S. figure-skating team.

About a month into his new career, he met Holcomb, the centerpiece of the U.S.’s Men’s Bobsled Team. (“The best,” says Olsen.) All of the new push athletes wanted to be on the ten-year veteran’s sled, USA-1; Olsen surprised everyone when, in his second season, he landed the coveted spot and started pushing for Holcomb in the two-man. “He called me and the first thing he said was, ‘I’m on Steve’s sled!” Kim says.

Over the next eight years, Olsen traveled the circuit with his team, racing in both the two-man and the four-man with Holcomb, hanging out with him in training rooms and hotel lobbies. “Justin was the man-child on the team, and definitely the entertainment,” says retired push man Steve Mesler, a veteran of Holcomb’s four-man sled. Holcomb was the pro who “kept to himself,” says Olsen. He’d always been the quiet teammate, and for good reasons.

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A stoic older-brother figure, Holcomb was an unlikely Olympic champion with a complicated backstory. In 2006, just as he started to succeed on the track, he noticed his eyesight worsening. He told no one. Doctors diagnosed him with keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease that distorts the cornea, and warned him that total blindness was imminent. He kept driving—bobsled is the rare sport where one can get away with less-than-20/20 vision—but the pressure of battling the disease, and his decision to keep it secret, isolated him from the team. He suffered from depression and, in 2007, washed down seventy-three sleeping pills with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in a suicide attempt. A few months later, upon his coach’s urging, Holcomb received an experimental surgery—a surgery subsequently named Holcomb C3-R—to correct his vision.

After winning the gold medal in Vancouver. L-R: Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Mesler, Olsen and Holcomb.

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Holcomb returned to driving just as Olsen started to shine as one of the team’s best push men. The legendary driver remained reclusive, but Olsen had a penchant for opening him up—cracking jokes about the young upstart one day beating the older vet, peppering Holcomb with questions about what to look for during walks down the track, indoctrinating him into Olsen’s not-so-secret Swiftie side. “Steve walked in on me once in my hotel room,” says Olsen. “He was like, ‘Dude, you’re this big-ass guy, in tiny little underwear, listening to Taylor Swift.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, man. It just makes me feel good.’” The duo often appeared together doing “the Holcy Dance”—a kind of restrained shuffle of Holcomb’s that became a team joke as they competed around the globe.

Together, they medaled in two World Cup races and won the 2009 World Championships in the four-man. In 2010, as they headed into Vancouver’s Olympics, their four-man sled, dubbed the Night Train, was number one in the world, and for the first time in sixty-two years, Americans won the gold. Along with their teammates Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz, Holcomb and Olsen landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

L-R: Holcomb, Olsen, Mesler, and Tomasevicz.

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Throughout, commentators spoke about Olsen and his meteoric rise with astonishment usually reserved for kid prodigies. Bobsledders typically either push or drive; switching positions is rare, especially after reaching the pinnacle of the sport as a push man. “It’s very difficult to be a brakeman, then pick up the skills to drive,” says head coach Shimer, a five-time Olympian himself. But Olsen was different. He’d had a great mentor to study, the best in the world. After Vancouver, he thought, Maybe my time as a brakeman is done. “My coaches said, ‘You’re a great brakeman, and you’re young; we’ve got to get you in the driver’s seat,’” he says.

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He split his time between pushing for Holcomb and feeling out driving. “In driving, if you’re not really ready for what you’re about to see [on the track], that’s when you can make mistakes,” Olsen says. And he did make mistakes, a lot of them, but he knew what a winning drive should feel like. “I was ready for whatever challenges driving came with. Learning to drive new tracks and managing stress, I was fine with that.”

“For me, [he] was going to be our next Steve Holcomb,” says Shimer. “Our next franchise. The program was going to be built around Justin Olsen.”

Last March, Holcomb and Olsen were in Pyeongchang for a World Cup race—the first on the new track built for the 2018 Games. They strategized how best to run the track’s sixteen curves. Curve two was particularly tricky. On their second day, while Holcomb was still bumping the wall, Olsen ran it clean and explained to Holcomb what he’d done. Advising his mentor felt new, and weird.

Afterward, they sat together and talked. “He kind of caught me off guard,” Olsen recalls. Whatever it is that makes bobsled pilots great—that intangible quality drivers and coaches can’t exactly define—Holcomb said he thought Olsen had it. “Pilot instincts, I guess,” says Olsen. “It was the first time he’d ever said anything to me like that.” Olsen, Holcomb said, was going to be a phenomenal driver. “Well shit, thanks,” Olsen replied, humbled.

Olsen and Holcomb at a New York Rangers hockey game following the Vancouver Olympics.

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Two months later, on a humid and cloudy May morning at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, where dozens of winter Olympians live year-round, frantic texts from his teammates suddenly popped up on Olsen’s phone: I’m worried. I haven’t heard from Steve. Have you seen him?

More texts rang out. I’m just really worried about Steve. I have a really bad feeling. Olsen asked them to call the building’s manager to open Holcomb’s door, on the opposite side of the dorm-style building from him. “I don’t mind if we barge into Steve’s room and he yells at us,” he texted back. “I’ve done it before.” He dressed quickly, then heard furious knocks at his door. Olsen opened it to find the manager of Lake Placid’s training center, one of Steve’s closest friends, winded and panicking. “It’s bad, it’s really, really…”

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Barefoot, Olsen ran through the halls to the opposite wing of the building and found two of his teammates hugging outside Holcomb’s door, tears streaming down their faces. “Somebody tell me what’s happening,” Olsen said. “What did you see?”

Holcomb celebrates a four-man run in Koenigssee, Germany in January 2017.

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“He’s dead,” one of them mumbled. Olsen didn’t believe it at first. “Did you check his pulse?” Olsen asked. The door was cracked. “Yeah, we did. He’s not moving,” they said. Holcomb, only thirty-seven, had died in his sleep. (An autopsy later found excess amounts of sleeping pills and alcohol in his system; the coroner ruled it an accidental death.)

Olsen went back to his room before the emergency medical technicians arrived. “I just didn’t want to see my close friend like that. I was shocked, but I wasn’t completely frozen,” he says. He had calls to make, to coaches and the CEO of U.S. Bobsled.

When he hung up his last call, Olsen felt his tempered resolve give way to a familiar dread—shortness of breath, nausea, and panic, as he experienced a kind of déjà vu from two years prior, when his father had died from a sudden heart attack. Back then, with his dad, he tried not to think about it and just kept racing. He’d deal with it later, he told himself. But with Holcomb’s death, “I knew I couldn’t act how I did with my dad,” says Olsen. “I knew I needed to be here this time…I knew that I needed people around me, and that people needed me.”

“Olsen was a rock,” says Holcomb’s best friend, Katie Uhlaender. “He helped me sort through the chaos.” He’d lost the person who represented his immediate future; the person who told him, You’re next, and was supposed to lead him there. “You’re not prepared to lose someone close until you lose somebody close,” says Olsen. “No one can replace Steve. I won’t.” He couldn’t breathe well at times, but he adopted the role of a leader, a role he knew the team needed.

Joao Canziani

“Justin stepped up. He knew how important Steve was,” says Shimer. “Steve Holcomb was the soul of this team. He was one of the best drivers in the world. The prospect of the two of them driving at the Games—that’s tough to walk away from.”

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After the memorial service in Lake Placid, Olsen knew he had to get back to training for Pyeongchang. Training was relatively simple in the off-season—a lot of cardio and weights and making sure you don’t get hurt. Getting back in the sled was not.

Joao Canziani

Four months before the Games, the team gathered, as they always did, for the first run at the Lake Placid track. For a decade, Holcomb had taken the first run. “This year, my coach looked at me and said, ‘Olsen, you’re going to be the first one down the hill.’ That was my oh shit moment.”

For a second, he felt physically unable to take a step forward. “I had to,” Olsen says. “Even though I didn’t feel like [Holcomb] and I were done when he passed away—this is still my sport, even though it’s not the same.”

Holcomb’s death doesn’t make it harder to drive, Olsen says. What’s difficult are the waves of yearning for more time spent walking down the track, knowing that Holcomb would do anything to help Olsen improve. He’s motivated by his memory, by trying to find what else of Holcomb’s he can carry with him, and by all the things Holcomb taught him—like how reveling in achievement isn’t as important as the opportunity to have it.

“All you really have is what’s right in front of you,” Olsen says. You travel full speed, falling into a blinding, white blur where unexpected things happen—where, if you’re going fast enough, you can soar upside down and come back again, seamlessly.

After his November run in Park City, Olsen competed in five more World Cup events, ending up as the top American finisher in the last two races before the Games. It’s the position Holcomb would’ve been in, the one with all the hopes and expectations for the medal stand.

This week, after the ceremonies and the practice runs in Pyeongchang have passed, Olsen will arrive at the track again. He’ll close his eyes at the top of the hill and find a dark kernel of stillness. In the symphony of low hums coming from somewhere down the ice, he’ll summon his previous runs. He’ll think of curve two, and Holcomb’s advice about curve nine will reverberate in his head.

He’ll open his eyes at the start and tap the sled to signal to his teammates that he’s ready. He’ll jump in and let go. The world will turn quiet for fifty seconds in a sea of blurry white. And, hopefully, he’ll lift his gaze and punch his fist in the air because his start was perfect and he’d figured out the rest.

Photography by João Canziani • Videography by Matthew Troy •

Edited by Whitney Joiner

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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Doping Charge Could Hurt Russia’s Chance At Reinstatement

Pyeongchang, South Korea (AP) — Russia could lose its chance to be reinstated before the end of the Winter Olympics because of a doping charge against curling bronze medalist Alexander Krushelnitsky.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement Monday that it has "initiated a procedure involving" Krushelnitsky, who finished third in mixed doubles with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

Russian officials said he tested positive for meldonium, which was banned in 2016, and has left the Olympic village. No date has been set for a hearing.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says a failed doping test could keep Russia's banned team from marching under the national flag at the closing ceremony.

Russian athletes are participating in the Pyeongchang Olympics as "Olympic Athletes from Russia." The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee last year in connection with a massive doping scheme at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi but allowed 168 athletes to compete under neutral uniforms and without the Russian national flag.

Adams confirmed the positive test and says it could have "consequences" in evaluating the behavior the Russian team, which was required to abide by restrictions including bans to some medal favorites and to undergo extra drug tests.

"If confirmed this will be taken into account along with many other factors" regarding Russian behavior," Adams said.

Russian Curling Federation president Dmitry Svishchev told The Associated Press that Krushelnitsky tested clean as recently as January 22, the day before he flew to a pre-Olympic training camp in Japan.

Svishchev said it was possible someone spiked Krushelnitsky's food or drink. He suggested that rival Russian athletes or Russia's political enemies could be responsible.

"It can't happen at the Olympic Village because everyone eats the same canteen food," he said. "It could happen at training camp or in the intervening period. … There's a possibility of it being something within the team, that something happened during training camp, or as a political means to achieve some goal."

The curling team trained in Japan in January, bringing in some Russian athletes who had not qualified for the Olympics as practice partners.

The federation senior vice-president Andrei Sozin confirmed to the AP that Krushelnitsky tested positive for meldonium, a substance which was banned in sport in 2016.

"Alexander has left the Olympic village and given up his accreditation," Sozin said. "We have information from our sources that the substance found was meldonium, which has not been used by Russian athletes and teams since 2015."

Meldonium is the substance that Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was suspended for after testing positive at the Australian Open in 2016. Before it was banned, many Russian athletes used the drug, which is designed for people with heart problems and some believe can help athletes increase stamina.

Krushelnitsky's "A sample" tested positive. Adams said a second sample would be tested, and results could be announced within 24 hours.

The Norwegian team finished fourth, and could get the bronze if the positive test is confirmed.

Adams says Russians at the games have undergone "rigorous testing" and adds that "Russians were tested to a significant level more than others."

The case was the talk of the rink at curling.

Russian women's curling coach Sergei Belanov said he didn't believe that a young and "clever man" would dope. "It's stupid. But Aleksandr is not stupid, so I don't believe it."

The skip of the Russian women's team, Viktoria Moiseeva wanted to comfort Krushelnitsky and Bryzgalova but "we thought that there are no words to comfort now. We just tried to stay away."

Though to the uninitiated, the idea of a curler using performance-enhancing drugs may seem bizarre, the sport does demand a high level of athleticism at the Olympic level. Curlers need to have strong core muscles and upper body strength in order to manage the often rigorous sweeping that helps them guide the rock down the ice.

Fitness is even more important in mixed doubles, the event Krushelnitsky was competing in. Because there are just two curlers on each team instead of the four in traditional curling, there is little rest between throws, and both teammates are often heavily involved in sweeping.

"It's physically demanding out there. It's not like you don't need any muscles," said Swiss curler Silvana Tirinzoni, whose team beat the Russian women's team 11-2 at Monday's round robin. "We have to be fit and we have to be working out. My sweepers are working out like five times a week, go to the gym, so it (performance-enhancing drugs) can help, but we shouldn't do that. I think that's stupid."

Tirinzoni said if the reports were confirmed, they would be disappointing. But she said she still had no reservations about playing against the Russian athletes on Monday.

"I think clean athletes have the right to compete," she said. "It's not about me to make those kind of decisions. So I believe the team we played today, they are as clean as we are."

___

Kristen Gelineau in Gangneung, South Korea, contributed to this report.

More AP Olympic coverage: https://wintergames.ap.org

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-19/russian-curlers-say-bronze-medalist-suspected-of-doping

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elisehu · 6 years

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Covering curling with my friend Jonathan Cheng of the WSJ, who is now OBSESSED with curling.

It’s the final day of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang and Gangneung. Covering these games was crazy intense, the whole way through. I can’t reflect really well without hindsight, so instead, here’s a round of cheers and jeers.

Cheers

The sports. What I love about the Winter Olympics is how utterly death-defying all of the events are, maybe with the exception of curling. But for basically every other event (skeleton, anyone?), a mere mortal would DIE trying it. I am exactly the kind of person who cannot maintain my cool when watching things like figure skating jumps. I cringe and audibly react with an “OH OWWWWW” when someone falls on the ice.

Curling. There’s something so magical about the perfect stones and the special shoes (one glides, the other doesn’t) and the terminology like “hog line” and “hammer.” I have come to really enjoy going to see curling more than anything else. The best night of curling happened with WSJ’s curling aficionado and sportswriter Jim Chairsumi happened to come have dinner with us and came with me to catch some curling. He gave the play-by-play and context, making the whole experience that much better. Thanks, Jim!

The Garlic Girls, aka Team Kim. The breakout sensation of these Games are four girls from the sticks, a garlic-producing town called Uiseong, which charmed the nation with their improbable victories in curling over the world’s best. Friend Jon (from the WSJ) and I accidentally stumbled on these women when we went to curling with the aforementioned Jim. They were mesmerizing to watch, and interesting off the ice, too. They have nicknames based on their favorite foods (“Steak” is my fave), a skip who is stone-faced, which inspired hella memes, and an excellent curling strategist. That they made it to the gold medal game at all was in the face of 50-1 odds. Rock stars, pun intended.

USA Women’s Hockey Team Beating Archrival Canada was the most exciting hockey game I’ve ever attended and maybe the greatest Olympics hockey game ever, according to veteran sportswriter Christine Brennan. It was sort of a fluke that I wound up covering it, meaning not only did I get to enjoy it, I got to file my first (and probably only) hockey results piece ever.

Reunions. The last time I was in the same place as Nigel Robertson I was 24 years old and he bought me a Wonder Woman shirt for my birthday that year. We have celebrated one another’s successes from afar for years and his energy is infectious. NIGEL is at the Olympics. So is Friend Juliet, who I haven’t seen since we moved away from Washington, Friend Alex, who I haven’t seen since the Nieman thing in Boston in 2013, and so many coworkers who I really never even worked with before, like our sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Getting to laugh with these folks makes the Olympics really special.

Jeers

Overheated buses. We constantly go from standing in subzero temperatures in a fierce (sometimes as fast as 50mph winds) to buses heated like they’re in the inside of a Korean sauna. One time my colleague Bill got into a bus that was actually heated just the right temperature and he decided to ride it to wherever it took him just to stay on the bus and not get stuck on a different one.

Wind. Wind gusts reached Cat3 hurricane speeds, destroying pop-up food stalls, security screening posts and wreaking havoc on the alpine schedule. For those of us who had to walk around in the wind, the big problem was trying not to be picked up by a strong gust. Also debris. I ended up having to irrigate my eyes numerous times after specks of gravel flew up into my peepers.

Food that tastes like despair. I feel it’s a travesty that the food in the concessions and tents here is so bad, given that there are such culinary delights across the rest of the country. Breakfast is sad, concessions which consist of “nachos without cheese” or “sandwich” (no details about what’s in it) taste of despair. Even things you can’t screw up, like fried mandu, aren’t served with condiments, so you can’t adjust anything. No hot sauce or soy sauce for you! Outrage.

The schedule. It is nonstop grinding-it-out, around the clock, since we work our daytime, and then by nighttime we begin working America’s daytime. The result is my alter ego comes out. Her name is Denise and she is a bitch. Denise has been making regular appearances in recent days, being all sorts of grumpy, uncompromising and picking fights. My mom thinks I’ve gone temporarily insane and told me I should not make any decisions right now, to which I responded by hanging up on her. Blame Denise, she’s horrendous.

Media Village Housekeeping. The apartments didn’t have do not disturb doorhangers so I’d often be awakened by or disturbed by the loud electronic voice of the teched-out apartment bell, which yelled, “YOU HAVE A CALL. YOU HAVE A CALL.” The other issue is that they bring you fresh towels every day, but never put them in the bathroom. So you’d come out of the shower or finish handwashing and have to trudge over to the bed to dry off. Because of language barriers, this situation could not change. I end my Olympics tenure supremely annoyed by this. Or is it Denise being annoyed? Hard to tell.

We were there.

Curling became my responsibility real fast.

Covering Alpine skiing with our sports reporter, Tom Goldman.

Canada house

WSJ dispatched five reporters to a women’s curling match.

Team NPR at Pyeongchang!

Yongpyong, for the alpine skiing events

Garlic Girls after a victory

USA v CAN women’s hockey was a highlight.

We were sooooo anxious during the crazy overtimes in hockey

So many North Korean cheerleaders all the time

Friend Alex! Gaaah I love this woman.

Pop-up McDonald’s in Gangneung Olympic Park

US women’s hockey team forward Hannah Brandt, wearing her gold medal she had just won.

GOLD!!! USA women’s hockey team.

With the North Korean cheering squad.

North Korea’s only elite athletes — Ryom Tae Oak and Kim Ju Shik

Every time we went inside the gates of any venue, we’d get scanned and our images would show up on giant screens

A defeated Mikaela Shiffrin

Wearing the Olympics fad “long padding” for a shoot with photog Jun Michael Park.

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics: Cheers and Jeers It's the final day of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang and Gangneung. Covering these games was crazy intense, the whole way through.

#buses #cheers and jeers #curling #food #hockey #Olympics #Pyeongchang #sports

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helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog · 6 years

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Snowboarder Kelly Clark Reveals What Life in the Olympic Village Is Really Like (Exclusive)

Kelly Clark is getting the college experience she never had.

The five-time U.S. Olympian and three-time medalist -- gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 and bronze in both Vancouver and Sochi -- entered these 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang as a snowboarding legend and an idol among many of her peers in competition. Kelly remains one of the most recognizable figures in the sport, even being featured on boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

ET caught up with the athlete, who opened up about what has changed over the course of her prolific Olympic career, to what life in the Olympic Village is like, to her game-day meal and more.

ET: How have you changed the most from your first Olympics to now?

Kelly Clark: I’ve grown up a lot. Since 2002, I’m more secure in who I am now. My snowboarding has developed so much more and progressed so far. Sudden success is easier than sustaining success, and I have learned to sustain success after all these years.

If your life was made into a movie, who would you like to play you and why?

Natalie Portman, I mean, why not? I like the fact she’s a crazy good actress, but also has a degree from Harvard. She’s an overachiever – just like I am.

Which athletes are you most excited to meet during the Olympics?

One of my favorite athletes is Mikaela Shiffrin. She is so talented and continues to remain grounded at the same time. I’m always cheering for her. I also enjoyed hanging with the ‘sliding’ athletes – the luge, skeleton and bobsled teams. They’re real athletes in the fact they are so tall and ripped. At the same time, my favorite non-snowboarding event to watch at the Olympics is women’s ice hockey, so I’ll be watching my Team Kellogg’s teammate Meghan Duggan go for the gold!

Which events, outside of your sport, are you most excited to watch?

I loved watching the men’s halfpipe event. I sat with Team USA and cheered on the boys' slopestyle as well. This will be the first time big air has been in the Olympics, I’m looking forward to seeing more of that. The Olympics are unlike any other athletic event, such great stories of inspiration, but I also look forward to the Paralympic Games in March, which is where the true champions come into play like Mike Schultz.

What's life really like in the Olympic Village?

The Olympic Village is kind of like college – not that I went to college. It has the dorm room feel along with the communal cafeteria. You can tell who’s waiting to compete and who has finished their competition. The difference is the focus. It’s amazing to see all the different athletes from different nations in one place. I also enjoy the Team USA lounge area – it’s where I connect most with my friends from different sports – and we get to hang out for two weeks every four years. And there’s the pin trading, that’s huge.

What's your game-day meal?

While I’m training and back in the U.S. it's Eggos with almond butter and bananas, but I also eat my favorite cereal, Special K with red berries, always hit the spot. But during game time and while I was at the games, there’s the Haven House that USOC [United States Olympic Committee] runs. You really don’t know what you’re going to get when you’re abroad and the USOC does a great job with the Haven House. It’s super important to be comfortable with what you’re eating, so you do your best. They provide us with food that’s familiar – so we’d take the bus to the Haven House to get the home-cooked meal we needed.

What's one thing you're looking forward to eating (or treating yourself to) after the competition is over?

Pizza! I flew into New York City straight from PyeongChang, so to get some slices, that would be great. The Olympics have been a four-year journey and a lifetime journey for me – and I’ve been telling my dog, Iris, that after February we’re going to spend some more together and I’m looking forward to going home and getting refreshed and relaxed with the pup.

Biggest piece of advice for other athletes?

I’ve learned through my snowboarding career not to be defined by your results. I’ve seen so many athletes treat the Olympic Games as a destination or be something that defines them. I encourage them to make that part of their journey, not the final destination. In doing this, you can peruse your athletics with more consistency and enjoyment, if your self-worth isn’t tied up in your performance.

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winterolympicopeningeremony-blog · 6 years

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@Watch winter Olympics 2018 opening ceremony Live streaming online TV coverage

Watch winter Olympics 2018 opening ceremony Live TV>>>>

The first Winter Olympics ever held in South Korea will kick off in Pyeongchang on February 9, 2018. Spectators at the open-air Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium will likely brave extreme cold temps and bitter winds, but they're in for a treat. Both ticket holders and fans at home will catch a traditional ceremony, albeit with a few surprise twists. Here's everything you need to know about this year's opening rites:When does it start? You'll either want tune in on Friday, February 9, at 6 a.m. ET for the live performance that starts at 8 p.m. KST, or sleep in a little later and catch it during primetime coverage on NBC at 8 p.m ET. The entire show is expected to last about two hours, so settle in. If you want to get a jump on the action, competition is actually scheduled to start the day before. The first rounds of curling and ski jumping will take place on February 8. Where will it air? American viewers can catch the spectacle on the NBC channel, but that's not the only spot to watch. Live feeds will also stream on NBCOlympics.com as well as the free NBC Sports app. The app is available for download on both phones and streaming sticks like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Chromecast. NBC also announced that the ceremony will air live in virtual-reality, an interactive, 360-degree viewing experience available on a variety of devices and platforms. Where is held?Both the opening and closing ceremonies will take place in Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, which was specifically built for the elaborate performances to the tune of $58 million. The 35,000-person arena won't host any athletic events (or even stay standing after the games), but it's already attracting criticism for its design.The open roof — a choice made to save costs and speed construction — could expose competitors, world leaders, and fans to extreme cold. An internal organizing committee document predicted the potential real-feel temperature to be 7 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the coldest Olympics to date. A recent concert held in the venue led to six reported cases of hypothermia, so organizers are already planning stopgap measures to keep everyone warm, including distributing hot packs and blankets.What will happen? The Telegraph reports the ceremony will follow the same general schedule as the Sochi Winter Olympics four years ago: Just like the Rio Olympics, the parade is organized by the language of the host country, except for Greece, which leads, and the host country, which goes last.

A note on the "symbolic" doves as well: The Olympics hasn't used live doves since the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, when a group of birds met an unfortunate fate in the Olympic cauldron. Other potential mishaps could occur too. Sochi's most memorable moment included a giant Olympic ring that failed to illuminate and expand on cue.What will Team USA wear?As the official outfitter, iconic American brand Ralph Lauren is charged with creating patriotic ensembles for the U.S. delegation. It's keeping them under tight wraps for now, but they have already unveiled the looks for the closing ceremony. Will Russian and North Korean athletes participate?Russia received plenty of sanctions for systematic doping during the Sochi Olympics, and some of them will be on full display during the opening ceremony. Approved Russian athletes will compete under the Olympic flag as the team "Olympic Athletes from Russia." The International Olympic Committee also placed restrictions on their uniforms, meaning the athletes will likely wear a subdued outfit featuring the Olympic rings.Given the breaking news that North Korea will participate in the games, specifics are still forthcoming. However, South Korean leaders did propose that the two countries march together under one flag like they did at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.The countries have walked separately at the 2010, 2012, and 2016 Olympics. North Korea did not compete in Sochi in 2014.The opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea will take place on Friday, Feb. 9. The games will go until Sunday, Feb. 25, the same date as the closing ceremony. These are the first Olympics to take place in South Korea since the 1988 summer games in Seoul.Although the opening ceremony takes places Feb. 9, curling and ski jumping begin their competitions on Thursday, Feb. 8.In the last Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, there was a record number of participants with 2,780 athletes competing and representing 88 countries in 98 events. Malta, Paraguay, Timor Leste, Togo, Tonga and Zimbabwe all participated in their first Winter Olympics that year.Russia walked away with the most overall medals and most gold medals in 2014, collecting nine bronze, 11 silver and 13 gold for 33 in total. The United States was second in total medals with 28 (12 bronze, seven silver, nine gold) and Norway finished second in gold medals with 11.The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic torch is set to arrive Saturday in Seoul -- the host city of the 1988 Summer Games -- as part of the torch relay across the country in the run-up to February’s Winter Games in Gangwon Province.The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the torch, which carries the flame that was lit at the Temple of Hera in Greece in October last year and arrived in South Korea in November, will tour the capital city until Tuesday. This Seoul’s first Olympic torch relay event since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.The torch relay course covers 103 kilometers, beginning in Mapo district in northwestern Seoul, with some 600 torchbearers joining the run. They include former soccer player Cha Bum-kun and actor Park Bo-gum.From Saturday, some roads will be closed along the torch relay route, including Sejong-daero in central Seoul, while some public buses will make detours.

Also on the list of torchbearers in Seoul are past and current Olympians, including former speed skater and 1992 Olympic silver medalist Kim Yoon-man, 2002 Olympic short track champion Choi Min-kyung and current captain of the women’s ice hockey team Park Jong-ah, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said.Before Seoul, the torch toured major cities across the country, including Jeju, Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon and Incheon, and is scheduled to travel 2,018 kilometers carried by some 7,500 torchbearers in total before arriving at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 9 in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul.Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said Thursday that the city “will focus efforts on promoting the upcoming Winter Games in the country during the four-day torch relay and Seoul’s 2,000 years of history and its global competitiveness to the world.” The Olympics torch arrived in Seoul on Saturday for a four-day relay throughout the capital city. The torch first started to travel on a royal carriage used by kings during Korea's last kingdom of Joseon (1392-1910), carried by the head of the royal family acting as Korea's most revered King Sejong, from the main Gyeongbok Palace to the iconic Gwanghwamun Square.At the last leg of the relay on Saturday, the torch was put on a drone and flew over the sky.The live footage of the torch relay was transmitted and shown on screens in the square through South Korea's indigenous 5G technology.But to the disappointment of the organisers, the well-choreographed event, also joined by high-profile politicians and K-pop signers, failed to bring people to the streets with many parts of the square remaining quite empty until the end of the relay.The rather chilly reception of the torch by the public epitomises the hardship that South Korea has been facing in promoting its first Olympics in 30 years, both domestically and internationally.One relief is that security concerns among foreign athletes and visitors over North Korea's threats were allayed, as the two Koreas held a landmark meeting earlier this week and announced that North Korea will send not only athletes, but also a cheerleading squad, an art troupe, and spectators.While a majority of the public welcomes North Korea's participation in principle (81.2 percent), 49.4 percent say they are opposed to the idea of the two Koreas entering the opening ceremony together under a flag depicting a unified Korean Peninsula, and 52.4 percent say South Korea should not help cash-strapped North Korea in paying for travel expenses, according to a recent poll jointly commissioned by local broadcaster SBS and the Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly.Furthermore, 72.2 percent say they are against the idea of forming a unified sport team, and 70 percent say the annual joint South Korea-US military exercises, to which North Korea always reacts angrily, should be resumed.The sentiment was quite apparent in the square, as we spoke to people."I think it is unreasonable for South Korea to pay [for North Korea's travel expenses]," Lee Joo-yeon told Al Jazeera "Countries around the world are coming. North Korea should not be an exception."

Kim Yeon-joo said that "North Korea's participation might help the Olympics, but not necessarily South Korea", adding that she was concerned that South Korea might end up paying too much for the North Korean delegation.If Pyongyang's recent peace overture was orchestrated to enhance its belligerent image and make South Korea lower its guard, it appears that the North Korean leadership did not realise the shifting attitude of the South Korean public over the past decade.In 2002, North Korea sent its athletes and cheerleaders for the first time to its southern neighbour to take part in the Asian Games.North Korea's national flag was hoisted and its anthem was played out for the first time in South Korea since the 1950-1953 Korean war. I was one of the last generations of students that received strong anti-communist education, which lasted until the end of the 1990s, and demonised the regime and the people in North Korea.Many people in South Korea, including myself, were previously under the impression that North Koreans were wicked goblins with horns on their heads.However, the elite squad of well-trained and good-looking female cheerleaders with enthralling charms sent a cultural shockwave across South Korea, destroying the deeply rooted stereotype.Even, some of North Korea's pop music became big hits in South Korea.Many began to understand that people living across the border were, after all, humans and the same Korean people.Of course, there were awkward moments that reaffirmed political and ideological differences between the two Koreas.During the Universiade Games in Daegu in 2003, a bus carrying North Korean cheerleaders suddenly stopped on a highway. The cheerleaders, some of them with tears in their eyes, rushed to a welcome placard, placed on utility poles, with a picture of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il shaking hands with late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung at the first 2010 inter-Korean summit.The cheerleaders screamed, asking how a dear leader's picture could be left alone on in the middle of streets without due respects, and took the placard down.Today, a string of nuclear and long-range missile tests, since 2006, including last year's H-bomb test and ICBM tests and Kim Jong-un's ruthless style of leadership have made South Koreans cool-hearted over inter-Korean relations.South Korea's new liberal, pro-engagement president, Moon Jae-in, who came into office last May after nine years of conservative governments, seems to understand well that even with his exceptionally high and steadfast approval rating over 70 percent, he needs to take his liberal approach slowly and cautiously, when it comes to North Korea.There have been numerous references to this healthy altitude in recent years with Korean officials touting how optimal it is for human life, raising animals and growing crops. Plenty of companies have used the slogan to sell products. There was a time that living up a mountain, rather than in a valley, would have been advantageous for protecting villages. And 7 is considered a lucky number, so 700 is luckier than, say, 600 or 800, explains Thomas Klassen, a York University political science professor with a research interest in South Korea.“If you live at the 700 altitude the air pressure is just going to be perfect — it’s been around as a belief and the Olympic committee played up on it,” he says. “There’s no science to it.”If there was, there might be a Canadian exodus to Medicine Hat, Alta., or Ontario’s highest point, Ishpatina Ridge, some 90 kilometres north of Sudbury, both of which are about 700 metres about sea level. “Cool that they’re pumping up that they live at 700 metres — maybe there’s a placebo effect,” says Greg Wells, an exercise physiologist at the University of Toronto.Athletes in the skiing, snowboarding and sliding sports who come from low-lying areas might feel a slight difference for a few days, he says.

“If you’re not from Calgary (which sits at over 1,000 metres) and you’re going there, the lower pressure of the air drives less oxygen into the body so it just takes a little while for your body to adapt and absorb the same amount of oxygen that it would at sea level,” Wells says. “Typically, that takes three to five days.“It’s a micro-factor for athletes. It’s not going to be anything like at high altitudes but it’s a one-per-cent factor and probably something that’s worth thinking about.”Here are 30 other things to know with 30 days to go:The 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics run Feb. 9-25, officially. But competition actually starts a day earlier on the 8th.South Korea is 14 hours ahead of Toronto.CBC plans to air 17 hours of daily Olympic coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET and running until noon. A 2018 Canadian Olympic team fan guide, profiling the sports and highlighting Canada’s Winter Games history, will be on newsstands across Canada mid-to-late January.After two balmy Winter Olympics — 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi — this one should see real winter conditions with average lows in the mountain venues expected to dip below -10C. The opening and closing ceremonies are being held in a 35,000-seat open-air stadium and organizers plan to provide spectators with a raincoat, blanket and heating pads to combat the cold. The Nigerian women’s bobsled team qualified for the Games, marking the first time a bobsled team from the continent of Africa will compete at the Olympics.Russia is still in, mostly. As punishment for running a massive doping regime that undermined at least two Olympics, athletes who are cleared by a special testing panel won’t wear traditional Russian uniforms but ones that say Olympic Athlete from Russia.North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump have been taunting each other over their nuclear capabilities. Trump’s Twitter missive: “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”North and South Korea are, technically, still at war since no peace treaty was signed after the Korean War ended in 1953. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.North Korea has agreed to send athletes and officials to February’s Olympics. Figure skating pair Kim Ju Sik and Ryom Tae Ok are the only North Korean athletes who have qualified but the International Olympic Committee has said others could receive wild-card entries.The North Koreans skate to a Canadian song, “Je ne suis qu’une chanson,” meaning “I am but a song,” performed by Quebec singer Ginette Reno.South Korea and the United States have agreed to halt joint military exercises during the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, which run March 8-18. The Olympic host city has long been named Pyeongchang but organizers suggested the spelling to PyeongChang to further distinguish it from the North Korean capital Pyongyang.Canada’s medal hopes are strong with Canadians currently ranked second in World Cup standings, behind Germany and ahead of the U.S.According to one recent medal prediction, Canada is set to win 33 medals — 7 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze — and finish third in the overall medal table.That would be more medals but fewer gold than last time when Canadians won 25 medals — 10 gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze — at the 2014 Sochi Games. (That number should go up by at least one with the addition of a bronze luge medal in team relay since the Russians were recently stripped of their medal for doping).Several Canadian defending gold medallists will be competing, including bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, moguls skier Justine Dufour-Lapointe, short track speed skater Charles Hamelin and the women’s hockey team. The NHL decided its players couldn’t go to the Pyeongchang Games, so it will be much harder for Canada to win the gold in men’s hockey than it was at the last two editions.South Korea is more dominant in summer sports but it has won 53 Winter Olympic medals, with all but two of them in speed skating.North Korea is also better at summer sports and has won just two Winter Olympic medals, both in women’s speed skating, with a 1964 silver in long track and a 1992 bronze in short track. It sent no athletes to the 2014 Sochi Games.A total of 2,900 athletes from 95 countries are expected to compete. That’s far fewer than compete at the Summer Games, which attract more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries. There are 102 medal events, the most ever at a Winter Games.The are four new Olympic events: big air snowboarding, mass-start long-track speed skating, alpine team ski and mixed doubles curling. They’re all shorter, more action packed and TV-friendly versions of existing events and part of the IOC’s desire to attract younger audiences.The Olympic medals were created by celebrated designer Lee Suk Woo, who incorporated Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, into the design.The gold medals weigh 586 grams, which would mean they’d be worth nearly $25,000 each if they were made of pure gold. They’re not. They’re made of silver and plated with six grams of gold. Instead of flowers during their podium ceremony, medallists will be given a small Games mascot — a stuffed white tiger named Soohorang — wearing a gold, silver or bronze hat and wooden gift featuring mountain scenes of Pyeongchang.On the final day of the last two Winter Olympics, there wasn’t a single women’s medal event. This time, there are an equal number of men’s and women’s events. But there’s still only one women’s event in bobsled and ski jumping while the men have two on the last day.

Curling fans rejoice: It’s the one sport which begins the day before the opening ceremony and ends on the final day of the Games, making it the only sport to be contested every single day.The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, are set to begin Thursday, Feb. 8. The 23rd Winter Games will be an exciting month of competition in sports like figure skating, hockey, curling and events you never knew existed. What is it?It's the official curtain-raiser for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held in South Korea for the first time.Seoul was the host for the summer Olympics in 1988, but Pyeongchang becomes the first South Korean city to stage the winter incarnation of the games. When is it?The opening ceremony will take place on Friday February 9, oddly one day after the first official events take place. The games' closing ceremony will then take place on Sunday, February 25.What time will it begin?The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 8pm local time in Pyeonchang.With South Korea nine hours ahead of the UK, you will be able to catch the show from approximately 11am. What TV channel will it be on?Although no official information on the broadcast of the opening ceremony has been released, live coverage of the games will be shown on both BBC and Eurosport. Discovery, which owns Eurosport, won the rights to broadcast the Olympics across Europe from 2018 and the UK from 2022. However, in 2015 a deal was struck that ensured the BBC was given the free-to-air rights to the 2022 and 2024 Olympics, with Eurosport granted the pay-TV rights in the UK to the 2018 and 2020 editions.Where will it be staged?The Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies - but the build up to the start of the games has been dogged by concerns that the venue will be too cold for spectators. “The cold could ruin the entire opening party. The fate of the event is down to the mother nature,” said ruling party politician and Pyeongchang local Yeom Dong-yeol.What to expect.The ceremony will broadly follow the same structure as the show put on by the Russians in Sochi four years ago.The symbolic release of pigeons has recently been adapted after a number of birds were accidentally incinerated when the Olympic torch was lit in the opening ceremony of the Seoul games."Following the unfortunate demise of several pigeons sitting on the edge of the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremony of the Seoul Games, this part of the protocol was modified, but not eliminated," reads section four the IOC's guide to opening ceremonies."Today, the symbolic release of pigeons follows the lighting of the Olympic cauldron."Once the national anthems been played, the show begins. Usually, the content is kept secret until the last minute. "The opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi adopted a historical theme, portraying Russian achievements such as industrialisation, space exploration and the foundation of St. Petersburg, and celebrating great authors and composers, all seen – in 13 distinct parts – through the eyes and dreams of a young girl named Lyubov (which means “love” in Russian)."The 2018 Winter Olympics are set to begin in February and if you’re a sports fan, or, just enjoy watching athletes from around the world representing their countries while competing for Olympic medals, then the Pyeongchang Winter Games will keep you entertained throughout the month of February.Below is a brief guide to provide you with some basic information about the location, start and ending ceremonies, the games, and how to watch/live stream online. Where are the 2018 Winter Olympics games held this year?This year, the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea which is located about 78 miles east (126 km) of Seoul, the country’s capital.This will be the second time the Olympics will be held in South Korea. The 1998 Summer Olympics was held in Seoul, South Korea.When are the opening and closing ceremonies?The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony will begin on Friday, February 9 at 8 p.m. (Korean Standard Time). South Korea is 14 hours ahead of New York City (Eastern Standard Time) so that means, if you want to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics live on the East Coast, you’ll need to tune in at 6 a.m. Friday morning and catch a little bit of the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies before you head out for work. Closing ceremonies for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be on Sunday, February 25. If you’re wondering what the official mascot is for the 2018 Winter Olympics, it is a white tiger named Soohorang. According to the Olympic website, the white tiger is “closely associated with Korean mythology and culture” and is recognized as a symbol of “symbol of trust, strength and protection.”When do the 2018 Winter Olympics games begin?The 2018 Winter Olympics games will begin on Saturday, February 10. Some of the medal competitions scheduled for Saturday are women’s speed Skating, men’s ski jumping and women’s biathlon. There are also a few qualifying events scheduled on February 8 -9, but the official start of medal competitions begin on February 10.The complete Pyeongchang Winter Olympics schedule can be found on the official 2018 Winter Olympics website.Aside from the usual Winter Olympics events such as skiing, bobsledding and figure skating, four new events have been added to the program. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) added big air snowboarding, freestyle skiing, mass start speed skating and mixed doubles curling have been added to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.According to the IOC, the events were added based on “added value; youth appeal; attractiveness for TV, media and the general public; gender equality; minimum impact on the number of events and/or quotas; and infrastructure and operational cost and complexity.” Overall, the IOC wants to make the 2018 Winter Olympics a more enjoyable experience for viewers. So, what do the 2018 Winter Olympics medals look like?According to Lee Suk-woo, the selected medal designer for this year’s Winter Olympics the medals are representative of his homeland, Korea and are “a celebration and a lifetime of hard work and dedication for all the athletes who will receive and cherish them.”Watch the 2018 Winter Olympics .The 2018 Winter Olympics will be broadcast live across all time zones, giving viewers the opportunity to watch all of the events live from Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was a big issue during NBC’s coverage of last year’s Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. There was a mix of live broadcasts/streaming mixed in with tape-delayed broadcasts which caused confusion and spoiled event results for a lot of people.

According to NBCUniversal, there will be more than 2,400 hours of Olympics coverage spread across their live television networks and streaming apps, so watching the 2018 Winter Olympics will be easy.You can catch all the action on NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. According to NBCUniversal, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be the first winter Olympic games to have streaming coverage for connected TVs. That means if you have Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, Roku, Win10 or ComcastX1 you’ll be able to watch NBC Olympics coverage.Watch 2018 Winter Olympics online for free. When it comes to watching major events online, there are people out there who figure out how to get around paying for a TV subscription. Services such as Sling TV offer free trials of their services, but it will only be available for seven days. If you're looking to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics online for free, all you need to do is search online and you'll find a handful of sites offering links to watch online. You can find live streaming links on YouTube, Facebook, UStream or Periscope but it's not guaranteed those links will remain active for long. After months of increasing tension, North Korea decided Wednesday to reopen a long-suspended hotline used for communicating with the South — potentially marking a thaw that could lead to Pyongyang sending a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, due to be held next month in Pyeongchang, South Korea.The presence of North Korean officials and athletes at the games may calm jitters about potential missile tests or worse occurring during the events, which will be held just 50 miles from the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.There'd also be a symbolic element to North Korea's participation in the games. Pyongyang has long used sporting achievements at international events to bolster its reputation abroad. Both Koreas also have used Olympic events to make gestures toward reconciliation, even marching together under a shared flag at a number of events. But critics argue that after a year of provocation, North Korea cannot be trusted to compete. In a tweet Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) called on South Korea to reject Pyongyang's overtures to join the games, arguing that it “would give legitimacy to the most illegitimate regime on the planet.”Despite Graham's concerns, North Korea has a long history at the Olympics. Pyongyang has sent athletes to every Summer Olympics since 1972, except for two it boycotted — the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Games in Seoul.The country has won 54 medals at Summer Olympics, including 16 gold medals, with weightlifting and wrestling its most successful sports. Given the country's small size and small gross domestic product, its performance has been relatively successful.Part of North Korea's success in the games no doubt comes from sheer political will. Successful athletes often enjoy well-funded facilities and relatively luxurious lifestyles, compared with their peers, North Korea analyst Christopher Green told WorldViews last year, although the risk of defection means that they often lead cloistered lives while in the Olympic Village.Perhaps surprisingly for such a mountainous country with cold winters, North Korea has performed far worse in Winter Olympics, gaining only three medals total despite competing in eight games since 1964. The only North Korean athletes to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang are two figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik.A symbol of reconciliation — but also mistrust. For some South Koreans, there has long been a hope that North Korea might attend the games. This was partly out of concern that North Korea might disrupt the event in some way if they it was not a part of it. Ticket sales for the Pyeongchang games have been lagging, a point some attributed to concern about the risks posed by North Korea.Such concerns are understandable: A year before the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, North Korean agents bombed a Korean Air flight, killing everyone on board, in an apparent attempt to disrupt it. The presence of North Korean athletes or a delegation should deter the risk of such events.But there was also a hope that North Korea's participation could provide a route toward reducing tensions on the peninsula. North Korea and South Korea have marched together in a number of Olympic Games opening ceremonies under what is called the Unification Flag, designed to represent all of Korea, though the countries still competed separately.Even though these gestures have faltered in recent years (plans to form a joint delegation for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics fell apart because of North Korean demands), the potential power of the Olympics for the Koreas was shown by the huge response in 2016 when a North Korean gymnast posed for a picture with a South Korean athlete.But many worry that Pyongyang will use its participation in the games to attempt to extract concessions from Seoul. Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst who is now an expert on North Korea at the Heritage Foundation, said that the joint procession at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney may have looked hopeful, but behind the scenes things were different.

“North Korea had demanded and received a secret payment from Seoul, payment for the North's uniforms, and agreement that the North's delegation would not be outnumbered by the South's — necessitating many South Korean athletes and coaches from not marching into the stadium as part of the Korean entourage,” Klingner wrote in an email.What could go wrong? Although both North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have suggested a willingness to cooperate on the Olympics in the past few days, there may be a lot of details to work out still. Technically, North Korea has missed the deadline to send a delegation, although the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that it considered the invitation to Pyongyang still open for the time being.The two Koreas would need to meet to decide how North Korea's participation in the event would proceed; the South has proposed a meeting next week in the truce village of Panmunjom. Experts suggest that even that meeting would need to be carefully arranged because of protocol concerns. Sticking points at the talks might include any concessions demanded by the North Koreans, such as the canceling or delaying of planned U.S.-South Korea military exercises to be held next year. Other factors, including the size of a delegation and the route it would take into the country, could throw up unexpected road blocks. If talks were to collapse, it could add to the already tense situation on the peninsula. Writing for the BBC, North Korean leadership expert Michael Madden said that North Korean participation in the games could provide an incremental step that could be built upon.“For Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in, and to those who follow the peninsula closely, DPRK participation will be an excellent public relations opportunity, and also cause a temporary pressure drop in neighborhood geopolitical tensions,” wrote Madden, a visiting scholar of the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS-Johns Hopkins University. But as the United States and its allies propose putting ever more pressure on North Korea, others may balk at decreasing the country's isolation without a tangible benefit. Klingner compared the situation to the restrictions placed upon apartheid-era South Africa.“As the world seeks to isolate and pressure North Korea for its repeated violations of U.N. resolutions, it should ask itself why Pyongyang is still allowed to participate in the Olympics but Pretoria was shunned,” Klingner wrote.SEOUL, South Korea — President Moon Jae-in of South Korea said on Friday that he would take a tougher line with North Korea than his progressive predecessors, vowing to strengthen the military even as the two Koreas agreed to start high-level talks next week.“I won’t be weak-kneed or just focus on dialogue, as we did in the past,” Mr. Moon told leaders of the Korean Senior Citizens Association. “I will push for dialogue and pursue peace, but will do so based on a strong national defense capability.”In inviting members of the association to the presidential residence, Mr. Moon was trying to lessen fears among older and conservative South Koreans that he might be conceding too much to the North as he doggedly champions talks. Such concerns have persisted even as Mr. Moon has moved to build more powerful missiles and get new weapons from the United States to counter the North’s growing nuclear threat.Conservative South Koreans remain deeply skeptical of the so-called Sunshine Policy of two previous progressive leaders, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who encouraged trade with the North and allowed large investment and aid shipments there in a belief that such largess would help North Korea open up and denuclearize.

That policy brought about a rare détente on the divided peninsula. But not only has the North refused to abandon its nuclear program, under its new leader, Kim Jong-un, it has also accelerated the pace of nuclear and missile tests. Some conservatives fear that Mr. Moon, also a progressive, might revive the Sunshine Policy and cause friction with Washington — a concern Mr. Moon sought to dispel.Earlier on Friday, North and South Korea agreed to hold high-level talks next week, moving toward a possible thaw a day after Washington agreed not to hold any joint military exercises with the South during its Winter Olympics, officials said.North Korea on Friday accepted the South’s proposal that the two Koreas hold the negotiations at the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. There, they will discuss the North’s offer to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics being held in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang starting Feb. 7.The North’s leader, Mr. Kim, made the offer during his New Year’s Day speech, in which he also called for easing military tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. That unleashed a series of interactions between the two Koreas, which raised hopes of an improvement in inter-Korean relations.Mr. Moon, who has repeatedly called for the North’s Olympic participation, quickly welcomed the North Korean gesture and proposed holding the talks in Panmunjom.On Wednesday, North Korea restored a telephone hotline at Panmunjom that had been cut off in early 2016 amid tensions over the North’s nuclear weapons program. It was through this hotline that North Korea told the South on Friday that it was agreeing to start a high-level dialogue at the border village, the only place in the Demilitarized Zone where soldiers from the North and South stand just feet from each other. The Panmunjom talks will be the first high-level inter-Korean dialogue in more than two years, coming after months of warlike threats from both North Korea and the United States over the North’s nuclear weapons program.The agenda for the talks will be how to improve South-North relations, including matters concerning the Pyeongchang Olympics,” said Baik Tae-hyun, a spokesman of the Unification Ministry, a South Korean government agency handling relations with North Korea.Details like who will lead each side’s delegation to the talks will be sorted out in the coming days in an exchange of documents through Panmunjom, Mr. Baik said.Once the official dialogue begins, the two sides must sort out such details as the size of the North’s Olympic delegation, its travel route, lodging and other logistics.South Korea hopes that the North Korean athletes will travel across the heavily armed land border for the political symbolism of such a gesture. It also hopes that the two Koreas can march together behind a single “unified Korea” flag during the opening ceremony of the Olympics.A potentially tricky issue for the South is how to respond should the North suggest that its Olympic delegation be led by one of the senior officials blacklisted by Washington or the United Nations Security Council on suspicion of involvement in the North’s nuclear weapons programs or human rights abuses.The South will make sure that no sanctions violations will occur during the Olympics, Mr. Baik said on Friday.South Korea, which champions dialogue as the best solution to resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis, hopes that the Winter Olympics will provide a lull in the nuclear standoff. On Thursday, Mr. Moon talked with President Trump by phone and asked him to make the Olympics a success by postponing joint military exercises until after the Games in February and the Paralympics in March. North Korea has always denounced such exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.Mr. Trump agreed to Mr. Moon’s suggestion. He said his tough actions and warnings against North Korea in the past months helped force it to start dialogue with the South.The quick series of interactions across the inter-Korean border have been spurred by the young North Korean leader’s initiative in reaching out as well as Mr. Moon’s eagerness for dialogue. Up until Mr. Kim’s surprise overture, North Korea has routinely disparaged the South as an American puppet and warned that it could strike the United States and its allies with nuclear missiles. In his New Year’s speech, he said he now had a “nuclear button” to release intercontinental ballistic missiles at any target in the mainland United States. Mr. Trump responded in kind, boasting that his button was actually “much bigger.”Some analysts say that after a busy year of nuclear and missile tests, Mr. Kim may be trying to draw South Korea and the United States into negotiations in hopes of easing the biting sanctions in return for de-escalation of the tensions.But North Korea insists that it will never give up its nuclear weapons, while Washington and Seoul want it to dismantle its entire nuclear arsenal.While sports enthusiasts all around the world are gearing up for the 2018 Winter Olympics, officials in PyeongChang, South Korea—where the next Olympics is located—are putting the finishing touches on the venues that will host the XXIII Games.

Although this is the second time the Olympics have been held in South Korea — the 1988 Summer Games took place in Seoul — it’s the country’s first Winter Games and PyeongChang’s first international sporting event of this caliber. South Korea previously made unsuccessful bids on both the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.The 2018 Winter Olympics will consist of 102 events in 15 different sports over the course of 18 days. These events will take place at 13 venues spread across the counties of PyeongChang and Jeongseon, as well as the coastal city of Gangneung. The Opening and Closing ceremonies and most snow sports will be located in PyeongChang, with the Alpine Speed events in Jeongseon and ice sports in Gangneung. The Alpensia Resort in PyeongChang’s township of Daegwallyeong-myeon will be the Games’ central hub.With PyeongChang’s strategic position in Asia, and its access to a young and fast growing youth market, the 2018 Olympic Winter Games will no doubt expose new generations of potential athletes to the power of winter sport,Pronounced “pyuhng-chahng,” Pyeongchang is located in the Gangwon province of South Korea in the Taebaek Mountains. It sits just over 100 miles east from South Korea’s capital, Seoul, and around 50 miles from the border of North Korea. The closest international airport to Pyeongchang is in the nearby town of Yangyang. However, the Incheon International Airport in Seoul will function as the main airport for Olympic visitors. See the location of Pyeongchang on the map below.The weather in Pyeongchang in February will likely be cold, with temperatures ranging from an average high of 33-35 degrees Fahrenheit (1-2 degrees Celsius) to an average low of 17 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius), according to World Weather & Climate Information. The first competitive events of the 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in PyeongChang on Thursday, Feb. 8, with the Opening Ceremony set for Friday, Feb. 9. The Games will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 25.The one-month countdown to the 2018 Winter Olympics has officially begun, as the PyeongChang games will kick off in South Korea on February 9. And that means just one thing: it’s time to review the uniforms that will be worn by the athletes repping the USA when they make a grand entrance at the opening ceremony, hit the slopes and collect their medals on the podium. From waterproof Nike jackets with hidden pockets for cellphones, to some chic Ralph Lauren getups, here’s what your favorite athletes will be wearing—and how you can buy their exact looks. Team USA will be making their Olympic debut at the Opening Ceremony in head-to-toe Polo Ralph Lauren designs. The looks, which were revealed on the Today Show this past November, include a white puffer jacket, some cozy fleece track pants and a retro red, white and blue ski sweater. The requisite accessories worn by Team USA include wool gloves and a hat, plus a bandana splashed with the American flag. However, the pièce de résistance of these outfits will be the brown suede boots with red laces. Indeed, it will appear as if the Olympic athletes stepped right out of a Ralph Lauren catalog and into the Parade of Nations. You can replicate the entire look, when the range drops later in January 2018.Seeing as the medal ceremonies for all sports—save for hockey—will take place outdoors, Nike has plans to keep the athletes warm and cozy in their fully-insulated outfits. The Team USA Hypershield Summit Jacket will keep the team dry, thanks to the waterproof GORE-TEX exterior, and warm, with a little help from the built-in knit hand warmers (to be worn when the Nike gloves are not), in addition to the navy blue removable bomber jacket layer. These white jackets are equipped with an inner phone pocket, ideal for taking the requisite “biting my gold medal” selfie on the podium. The coordinating Nike pants are similarly equipped to keep rain and snow out, and the Gaiter Boots are designed to keep toes and ankles feeling toasty, thanks to a lace-free design and heat reflective materials. Should you want to rock this gear for the next Bomb Cyclone, you’re in luck; the entire range will be available in stores and online on January 15.The freestyle ski team repping America will be rocking looks from Columbia, the brand that has also been tapped to create jackets for ski teams from Canada, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Ukraine. For their seventh season working with the U.S. ski team, Columbia decided to give athletes a touch of good luck by lining the jackets in a gold hue along with an awe-inspiring graphic that reads: “Climb to glory.” The exterior of the ski uniform is finished with OutDry Extreme, which offers maximum waterproof tech, while the interior was created with a material that mimics space blankets, providing lightweight warmth and very little bulk. Further, the ski pants and certain panels on the jacket feature a pattern that works like snow camouflage, which is intended to “mask the body movement” of mogul skiers.

“It’s a unique opportunity to work closely with a brand and see your input come to fruition,” said Troy Murphy, a member of the U.S. Ski Team. “We spend countless hours on the mountain in a wide variety of conditions. It’s awesome that we can give our feedback to Columbia and have them hand us a uniform the next season that reflects our input.” The 2018 Winter Olympics are set to take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from February 9 through 25, and the Olympic schedule is finally here! In less than a month, get ready to watch hundreds of bundled-up athletes race through the South Korean snow in one browser tab while pretending to do work in another. This year’s winter games are already setting records. Even if you’re not an avid Olympics fan, keep an eye out for Maame Biney, the first black woman to qualify for Team USA’s short-track speedskating team; big air snowboarding, a new event for winter 2018; and tensions between North Korean and South Korean teams.Overall, Pyeongchang athletes will compete in seven sports (biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing), across 15 disciplines, for 102 medals. Here are our picks for events on the Olympics schedule worth watching, or at least YouTubing later: The Olympics opening ceremony is like the Oscars: Even if you don’t care about any of the contenders, everyone is going to be talking about it at work. The ceremony will take place in a new 35,000-seat Olympic stadium that was constructed for the games. (Dramatic sidenote: The stadium is reportedly so cold that six people got hypothermia at a recent concert, so expect lots of commentary on the weather.) The two-hour event will feature the traditions we associate with the Olympics, like the lighting of the torch and the parade of participants. Tune in for track-suit envy as we learn how each team styles its national colors. When to watch: 2/9 at 8 P.M.An international data analytics company predicts Canada will win a whopping 33 medals, including men's hockey gold, at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.In a virtual medal table released Wednesday, Gracenote projects the Canadian team will rank third in total medals behind Germany (40) and Norway (37) and ahead of the United States (29).Gracenote delivers music, video and sports metadata to entertainment services and companies.The company said in a release Wednesday it based its statistical model for Pyeongchang on individual and team results from previous World Cup, world championships and Olympic Games.The 2018 Winter Olympics open Feb. 9 and close Feb. 25.The 33 medals forecasted for the Canadian team (seven gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze) would wallop the country's previous top total of 26 claimed by the host team at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., although the breakdown there was 14 gold, seven silver and five bronze. Canada's medal haul from 2014 will also be 26 (10, 10 and 6) when the luge relay team is officially upgraded from fourth to bronze.Stripped of multiple medals by the International Olympic Committee for doping violations, host Russia tumbled from first to fourth in the 2014 overall medal table.Gracenote thinks Canada will win men's hockey gold without its top NHL players, but predicts silver for the women's hockey team.With the opening ceremonies less than a month away, the Canadian Olympic Committee has yet to state what the Canadian team's medal target is for Pyeongchang.

Finishing first overall in the total medal count was the goal in both 2010 and 2014. Canada was third in 2010 and will tie with Norway for second in 2014 at 26 medals. COC chief executive officer Chris Overholt has said "we certainly expect to contend for the No. 1 position," in Pyeongchang.Gracenote has been increasingly bullish on Canada's medal prospects in Pyeongchang, predicting 29 a year ago and upping that to 31 in November. But Russia is the wild card in the prediction game as 42 athletes banned from Pyeongchang because of doping violations have appealed their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Canada stands to gain medals in some sports in the absence of some Russians, but which athletes will be allowed to compete under the "neutral" banner of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) is still to be determined."We have removed all 19 of the projected OAR medallists from this version of the virtual medal table," Gracenote said in the statement."The athletes who are allowed to compete will be included in our final virtual medal table release just before the Games begin." Gracenote predicted gold for bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, the Kevin Koe and Rachel Homan curling teams, figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond, moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury, snowboarder Max Parrot and the men's hockey team.A month out from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, the company forecasted 16 medals for Canada (three gold, eight silver and five bronze). The team won 22 with four gold, three silver and 13 bronze. Gracenote correctly predicted the majority of Canada's medals in Rio would be won by women, who produced 16.Each spectator attending ceremonies at Pyeongchang 2018 will reportedly be provided with a small blanket as well as a rain coat and a heating pads in an attempt to provide protection from freezing temperatures.It comes amid predictions that temperatures could feel as low as minus 14 degrees celsius during the events, which are due to take place at the open-air Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.In November, six people reportedly suffered from hypothermia while attending a concert at the stadium.A crowd of 35,000 is expected for the Olympic Opening Ceremony on February 9. Wind shields are also being introduced around to the stadium in a bid to keep out the cold.Temperatures have been much warmer at the two previous editions of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Sochi, but could plummet to as low as the minus 11 degrees recorded during the Lillehammer 1994 edition.A report by Reuters, who obtained a copy of Organising Committee plans, revealed a range of measures including the distribution of hot packs and blankets.It was all reported that, according to an unnamed official, 160 VIPs will be offered "thicker and bigger blankets".It is likely that temperatures will be warmer in the coastal city of Gangneung where competition in ice sports is due to take place."The lower the temperatures and the higher the wind speed, the colder spectators can feel," meteorologist Sung Hyun-do told AccuWeather. "Because Pyeongchang is in the mountains, it will be cold regardless of wind direction; however, it may feel colder when the north wind blows."insidethegames has contacted Pyeongchang 2018 for confirmation of their plans for the two ceremonies.North Korea's indication that they are willing to participate at Pyeongchang 2018 has been welcomed by organisers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).The country's leader Kim Jong-un announced during a televised New Year's Day speech today that they "sincerely hope that the Winter Olympics will be a success" and that they have "readiness to take various steps, including the dispatch of the delegation"."We continue our close cooperation with the Organising Committee for the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018, with the South Korean Government and the National Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," an IOC spokesperson told insidethegames in response. "In this context, we will consider the comments of the North Korean leadership with regard to participation in the Olympic Winter Games in an open way."Kim's address had marked the first official announcement that North Korea would be willing to take part in the Games. Pyeongchang 2018 President Lee Hee-beom also described the announcement as a "positive sign" and a "gift on New Year's Day".Pairs skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik are the only North Korean athletes to have so far qualified for Pyeongchang 2018. They missed a deadline last month to accept their spot, although they could still be allowed to participate. It remains possible that other athletes from North Korea could also be given wildcards. Preparations for the Winter Olympics also played a central part in IOC President Thomas Bach's New Year's address for 2017 published today."When the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 begin in just a few weeks it will be the first time that the magic of Olympic sport on snow and ice will come to the Republic of Korea," the German said."They will showcase a modern Korea and connect its passion to the world. "Thanks to the excellent work of the Pyeongchang 2018 Organising Committee, the stage is set for the best winter sport athletes of the world to amaze us all with their sporting performances."Bach formed part of an IOC delegation which visited North Korea in 1998 to initiate talks about possible unified Korean participation at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.This did not ultimately happen, although athletes from the North and South did march together under a unification flag at the Opening Ceremony.He also insisted today that the Games will be safe and that they are still "monitoring" the security situation."At the same time, we know about the political tensions on the Korean Peninsula," Bach added."The IOC has addressed them already since 2015. "This happened through close contact with the leaders of Governments and NOCs concerned. "In all these discussions, the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 were never put in doubt. "On the contrary, we feel support for our position that the Olympic Games must always be beyond all political division. "The Olympic Games are about dialogue. "They are a symbol of hope and peace. "In our troubled times, they are the only event that bring the whole world together in peaceful competition. "To ensure this for the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018, we keep monitoring the situation very closely."

Bach also reflected on other events scheduled for 2018, including the third Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, before reiterating his defence of the IOC decision to make Russian athletes compete under a neutral flag in Pyeongchang as punishment for their "systemic manipulation" of the anti-doping system at events including the previous edition in Sochi. "In the last few weeks, the IOC had to address an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport," he said."Based on the findings of the Schmid Commission looking into the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping system in Russia, the IOC Executive Board had to suspend the Russian National Olympic Committee, while creating a path for clean individual athletes to compete in Pyeongchang. "After 17 months of painstaking work, we can confidently say that due process was followed throughout. "The decision sanctions those responsible for the past violations while creating a path forward for the future. "This proportional sanction could draw a line under this damaging episode. "It was a difficult decision but it was a necessary one to ensure the integrity of the Olympic Games. "If everyone draws the right conclusions, it could serve as a catalyst for a more robust anti-doping system under the leadership of the World Anti-Doping Agency."With a projected 15 medals a possible outcome for Japan at the upcoming Winter Olympics, Netherlands-based sports statistics experts Gracenote on Wednesday predicted a record-setting performance in Pyeongchang, with figure skating star Yuzuru Hanyu the headliner.Released with less than a month to go until the games opening ceremony, Gracenote's Virtual Medal Table predicts Japan will leave South Korea with a record medal haul, five more than its previous best recorded at the 1998 Nagano Games, and a huge improvement from the most recent Olympics in Sochi."The projections are based purely on results, so this is just a reflection of the improvement made by Japanese competitors since Sochi. Performances at world championships and world cups have been impressive enough from Japan to justify this leap," said Simon Gleave, Gracenote's head of analysis.A welcome forecast for Hanyu fans, the long-time Olympic watchers penciled Japan's glamour boy in as the men's figure skating gold medalist, despite his currently uncertain health status."Our projections only look at results and we don't include an adjustment for injury as those subjective assessments tend to make the accuracy of our forecasts lower," said Gleave. "Having said that, we will have to see if Hanyu is back to his best in Pyeongchang. If not, he will struggle to meet our expectations."Japan will also take the figure skating team gold medal, Gleave says, with the country's ice armada of Shoma Uno and Satoko Miyahara and others providing backup to Hanyu. Uno is also predicted to take the men's bronze, and Miyahara the women's silver.The other gold medals going Japan's way will come from speed skating, Gracenote says, with Japanese sprint queen Nao Kodaira leading the charge.The forecast for the 500-meter event is that Kodaira will dominate her competition, as she has done all season, and the team pursuit should be Japan's. But it is over 1,000 meters that Kodaira could add to her medal collection, perhaps even gold."It is difficult to comment on specific cases, but the 1,000 currently looks very close between (U.S. skater) Heather Bergsma and Kodaira, and it would be no surprise to see the Japanese skater claim gold," said Gleave.Japan's freestyle skiing and snowboard squads should add to the medal total, as might always-in-contention women's ski jumping star Sara Takanashi and her teammate Yuki Ito.Nordic combined racer Akito Watabe should convert his recent form into a podium, according to Gleave."Watabe was second at last year's world championships which has a lot of weight in our model. However, he also won three world cup events in 2017, including the event in Ruka, Finland, two months ago," he said."The difference between Watabe and our projected bronze medalist Eric Frenzel is wafer-thin, though. These two and gold medal favorite Johannes Rydzek look ahead of the rest of the field at the moment."Seoul urged that reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War -- one of the most emotive legacies of the conflict -- be held at the same time as the Games.North Korea offered to send athletes and a high-level delegation to the forthcoming Winter Olympics in the South as the rivals held their first official talks today in more than two years after months of tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.Seoul urged that reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War -- one of the most emotive legacies of the conflict -- be held at the same time as the Games.The talks were held in Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that splits the peninsula, with the North's group walking over the Military Demarcation Line to the Peace House venue on the southern side -- just yards from where a defector ran across in a hail of bullets two months ago.Looking businesslike, the South's Unification minister Cho Myoung-Gyon and the North's chief delegate Ri Son-Gwon shook hands at the entrance to the building, and again across the table.In accordance with standard practice in the North, Ri wore a badge on his left lapel bearing an image of the country's founding father Kim Il-Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il. Cho also wore a lapel badge, depicting the South Korean flag.As well as its athletes, the North proposed sending a high-level delegation, supporters, art performers and a taekwondo demonstration team to the Games, the South's vice unification minster Chun Hae-Sung told journalists.

Seoul suggested the two sides march together at the opening ceremony, he added, and called for the resumption of family reunions, as well as Red Cross talks and military discussions to prevent "accidental clashes""Let's present the people with a precious new year's gift," said the North's Ri. "There is a saying that a journey taken by two lasts longer than the one travelled alone."The atmosphere was friendlier than at past meetings, and Cho told him that Seoul believed "guests from the North are going to join many others from all around the world" at the Olympics."The people have a strong desire to see the North and South move toward peace and reconciliation," he added.It was a radically different tone from the rhetoric of recent months, which have seen the North's leader Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump trade personal insults and threats of war, while Pyongyang has launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland and carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.Seoul has been keen to proclaim the Games in Pyeongchang, just 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the DMZ, a "peace Olympics" but it needs Pyongyang to attend to make the description meaningful.Kim indicated in his New Year's speech that the North could take part in the Games and Seoul responded with an offer of high-level dialogue. Last week the hotline between the neighbours was restored after being suspended for almost two years.Issues still to be settled include the question of joint entrances to the opening and closing ceremonies, the size of the delegation and their accommodation -- widely expected to be paid for by Seoul -- as well as any linked discussions.The North so far has only two winter sports athletes qualified for the Games, but hundreds of young, female North Korean cheerleaders have created a buzz at three previous international sporting events in the South.The group may stay on a cruise ship in Sokcho, about an hour's drive from the Olympic venue, which would enable their movements to be closely monitored and controlled.A high-level delegation accompanying the team could include Kim's younger sister Yo-Jong, who is a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party, according to South Korean reports.We had a dream. Two failed bids; tears shed twice. We continued, urged on by our single passion.” So says South Korea’s Gangwon province, in the country’s northeast, of its third-time-lucky bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.Depth of passion will continue to be needed in the face of the Korean Peninsula crisis, and most Koreans’ relatively mild interest level in winter sports (skating excepted), not unlike Australians’.The Olympics will cost about 14 trillion won ($16.8 billion) for South Korea, including the 11 trillion won ($13.2bn) spent to construct or upgrade roads, the fast train and the venues for the Games. The Winter Olympics run February 9-25 and the Paralympics March 9-18.Despite some warnings of war clouds in the North’s nuclear-missile dispute with the US, preparations were nearing completion on the ground when The Australian visited Gangwon’s mountainous PyeongChang county and Gangneung city — both are places where Games events will be held — in early December.Organisers hope for as many as 200,000 foreign visitors to the Games. Snow has come early and so have subzero temperatures (and the snow-making machines are in readiness).Some South Korean sports officials continue to predict North Korea will still accept an invitation to compete at PyeongChang, which will remain open right until the opening.The national Olympic committees of the more than 90 jurisdictions are reportedly planning to attend. The International Olympic Committee has decided that East Asia will be an Olympics triangle for the next four years. First, PyeongChang, then the Tokyo Summer Games in 2020, and the Beijing Winter Games in 2022.There had been no clear signal from North Korea, only about 80 kilometres away, in December when the Korea Tourism Organisation chief executive Jung Chang-soo and the secretary-general of the PyeongChang Organising Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG), Yeo Hyung-koo, hosted about 180 foreign and local officials, media and travel agents at Hanwha Resort in PyeongChang. Instead, “passion” was often cited.A record turnout of nearly 3000 athletes is still predicted for the Games, and as many again in officials, although Australia will probably field only 50-60 competitors.Apart from construction, the communications preparations have been extensive, with about 20,000 volunteer guides from many countries for the Olympics and Paralympics, plus already-downloadable mobile apps and 5G speeds, foreign-language robots, and even a virtual-reality theatre with an athlete’s eye view for those who won’t want to venture into the cold.At a news conference and pageant dramatising the economic and cultural impact of the Games themselves and their legacy, Mr Jung said: “Ticket sales have been improving to a large extent which demonstrates increasing interest and participation in the Games. Korea, China and Japan will form a joint tourism operation [to promote the Olympic triangle.”“The provocations of North Korea are not a new event and the tensions are between the military forces of the two Koreas,’’ Mr Jung said.“All Olympics are subject to terrorism risks. Now we have a situation where there is provocation from North Korea. But this is not a new event. Since 1953 there might have been tension but this has been tension between militaries. There has not been any terrorist acts against civilians. We are doing our best to have a peaceful Olympic Games.”But the country happened to have 600,000 troops, and military forces would be on standby outside the Olympic area and an evacuation system was ready.Such was the confidence expressed in preparations and attendance — not a single national Olympic committee had queried security, according to Mr Yeo — that the Games’ economic and soft-power legacy, said to be worth $US60 billion ($78bn) to South Korea in the following decade, was the focus. After the business and political gains that followed the 1988 Olympics, South Korea’s leaders are hoping for a repeat.More than half the minimum target of 1 million tickets have been sold but whether it can be said PyeongChang will attract the hoped-for 200,000 foreign visitors bearing at least 310,000 event tickets and spending $US2bn will have to wait until February.

At the moment the focus is on stimulating lagging domestic interest with heavy advertising.POCOG's Mr Yeo said that after holding the 1988 Olympic, and the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, South Korea would have a “grand slam” with the Winter Games, becoming one of only seven countries holding all three international events.“It has impact and huge meaning in other Asian countries in holding these kind of winter events. Korea holding the Winter Olympic Games, for our people and other Asian countries, has very much impact,’’ Mr Yeo said.Preparations were “going smoothly as planned”, he said. Construction at all 12 venues, the Olympic village and the broadcast centre had been completed. “We’re now looking at the operating side [so it] will proceed as planned.”“[There is also a] focus on promotion and ticket sales and preparing the environment for the athletes and for the peaceful staging of the Games.“We’re going to aim for full stadiums.”“PyeongChang will be used as a training facility for the Beijing [Winter] Games. South Korea has a bit of a lack of base in winter sports. We hope to expand the horizon of winter sports in Korea so we want more interest from the public.”There had been no security concerns at that point raised by the NOCs, which had all signed necessary accommodation contracts, Mr Yeo said.“The IOC and NOCs and stakeholders are travelling across the sites to focus on preparations. There have been no messages of reluctance. About 104 countries may participate and 94 have registered interest, more than 84 for Sochi at this time of year.”Beijing banned its travel agencies from selling group tours to South Korea to its citizens in protest at the deployment of US anti-ballistic missiles in South Korea in 2017. But after a recent summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, South Korea seemed to be getting back on track with its Chinese arrivals.Mr Moon says his country’s hosting of the Olympic Games will help promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia region, according to South Korea’s Yonghap news agency.“First of all, the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games being held safely itself will contribute greatly to peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said, noting the Winter Olympic Games will be followed by the Tokyo and Beijing games.“The three consecutive Olympic Games will be a great chance to promote peace and co-prosperity not only in the Korean Peninsula but the entire northeast Asian region,” he said.Chilli enough for you?The spicy sauces and soups for which modern Korean cuisine is famous should be popular during the Games, and good for spectators to bring along. The forecast subzero cold is likely to be either daunting or exciting, depending on one’s frame of mind.A drive into the mountains in December showed frozen fields, rivers and forests. The sun sparkled on brittle ice covering the landscape.The open-air PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, which despite its 118.4 billion-won cost is meant to be only temporary, will seat 35,000 chilled spectators on orange and pink seats during the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics. It rises isolated on a plain, with mountains cascading down behind it.The Associated Press reports spectators will have to sit exposed for as long as five hours in the elements during the night-time ceremonies. Organisers plan to provide each spectator at the Olympics ceremonies with a raincoat, a small blanket and heating pads — one to sit on, one for the hands and a pair for the feet.They also plan to install polycarbonate walls above the highest seats across the two northwest sides of the stadium to block the strongest winds. About 40 portable gas heaters will be placed in aisles between the rows of plastic seats, and lots of hot coffee and tea, fish sticks and heated buns will be on sale.By the time the opening ceremony starts about 8pm (10pm AEDT) on February 9, the wind chill at the stadium could be much colder than at the ceremonies for the Vancouver and Sochi Games.A few weeks ago, when journalists visited PyeongChang county, one morning it was reported to be minus 13 in the area.“The only thing foreigners can do is the same thing locals do: bundle up,” Nam Sun-woo, 60, a fishmonger in PyeongChang, says. “Not many outsiders understand how cold it gets here. It’s not like where they’re from. This kind of cold is completely different.”It’s cold, and it’s going to get colder. But what can we do?” says Ahn Young Ju, 36, a restaurant owner in the remote town of Nammyeon in Jeongseon county, which will host the downhill skiing events. “We were born here, so we try not to think too much about it.” At least the east-coast area of Gangneung, where skating and hockey will be held, are usually warmer than PyeongChang.The international tensions appear to have had an impact on visits by Australians, which were down about 12 per cent to 12,299 for last October (compared with 14,021 in October 2016), the latest month available from KTO. But for the 10 months ended October, Australia was up 0.8 per cent to 125,222.All overseas visits were down 27 per cent to 1.17 million in October but the biggest downturn was an almost 50 per cent fall in Chinese visits, to about 345,000, under the impact of Beijing’s ban on group tours.Australians usually make up only about 1 per cent of South Korea’s annual visitor intake — last year more than 17 million — and the Chinese usually make up nearly half.But Australian visits to South Korea have grown by a multiple of 15 from about 10,000 in 1987, the year before the Seoul Olympics, to about 150,000 now, and this is about triple the percentage rise in all Australian overseas visits in those three decades, though that may partly reflect growth in the number of naturalised Korean Australians. Now South Korea is projecting more than 20m foreign visits in 2018, including that hoped-for 200,000 for the Games and Paralympics.Kim Tai Hwan, the director of KTO’s Sydney office, says “it’s business as usual in Korea. No problems. I hope to see more expressions of interest in Korea, taking advantage of this opportunity.”But one long-time KTO staffer did concede the negative effects of North Korea’s tests and threats: “This has been the most difficult thing to deal with in all the years I’ve worked at KTO but we’ve endured and I’m sure that Korea next year, with the Olympic Games, as with the [2002] FIFA World Cup and the 1988 Olympic Games, will shine in front of the world.”DFAT’s Smart Traveller advice is: “Australians in the Republic of Korea should monitor developments closely due to the risk that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could escalate with little warning. The level of this advice has not changed.”The impact on travel insurance has been small, if any. For the period February 4 to March 3, 2018, Allianz this month quoted basic rates for a 40-year-old (including unlimited emergency assistance) of $118 for South Korea, $165 for the US, $113 for the UK and $106 for Bali.For visitors to the Games, there are dedicated mobile apps and a 24-hour hotline (dial 1330, option 2 for English).

The word “Russia” will appear on the Olympic uniforms worn by the athletes granted an exemption, despite the doping-related ban, for the PyeongChang Games. As many as 200 athletes are set to compete in South Korea as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia” if they can prove they are not tainted by doping. “Olympic Athletes from Russia” is the status imposed by the International Olympic Committee as part of Russia’s punishment across all sports for doping at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.Organisers expect North Korea to hold off for as long as possible on deciding whether to participate in the Games. “We are very hopeful and expect them [North Korean athletes] to be able to participate in the Games. At the same time, we do know that this may be a very last-minute decision by North Korea,” South Korean Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan said at an Olympics preview event in New York in November.Seoul’s Incheon International Airport has gained a second terminal to take the expected overflow of passengers and allow for future expansion of traffic. A new international cruise terminal was completed at the eastern port of Sokcho in August and it is planned a ship will be used as a floating hotel during the Games.The world’s latest high-speed trains in late December began regular passenger service to PyeongChang and Gangneung eastwards from Seoul, travelling at up to about 250 kilometres an hour, following the testing of a new, 120-km stretch that reaches the east coast after transiting more than 80 new tunnels and bridges.The new Korea train express (KTX) service is the most expensive element in infrastructure, costing about one third of the budget. At various speeds, it links Incheon International Airport, Seoul and other cities on the way through Gangwon province’s PyeongChang county to the Olympic co-host city of Gangneung on the coast. The KTX can transport as many as 20,000 passengers each day from Incheon and Seoul to PyeongChang and Gangneung, where they can transfer to shuttle buses.The longest journey time, between Incheon International Airport and Gangneung, will just under two hours, and there will be 51 trains scheduled to run each day during the Games. Those travelling direct the capital city, Seoul, will be able to reach PyeongChang in as little as 67 minutes.South Korea has for several years been running a KTX service successfully between the capital in the northeast and the country’s second city, Busan, on the southeast coast.The economic gain of a successful games is projected by the Korean Government at $US60bn in the 10 years beginning from 2018. Kicking this off, if all goes well, will be $US2bn in spending by about 200,000 foreign visitors in the country for the Olympics, followed by $US16bn from the investment in stadiums, roads, the rail and other infrastructure, including several new hotels.Organisers see several distinguishing points for these Games: South Korea’s internet and communications leadership, its use of the so-called internet of things to aid visitors, a focus on opening and closing ceremonies and other festivities that reflect Korean culture “so as to touch the hearts of spectators”, and the mid-February lunar New Year observances.One of the Olympics legacies is the capitalised C in PyeongChang, introduced so people don’t confuse it with the similar-sounding North Korean capital Pyongyang, which is not where many Olympics fans would want to end up by mistake.

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