Here are a few interesting facts about the 2018 Winter Olympics
- Host city Pyeongchang is the smallest city to will host the Winter Olympic games, since the Lillehammer 1994 games in Norway.
It was the third time that South Korea had bid to host the games, and Pyeongchang had to fend of rival attempts from Munich and Annecy to win.
Pyeongchang city lies 110 miles from Korea's capital Seoul Located in the Taebaek Mountains, and it is situated only 40 miles away from a demilitarised zone that lies between North and South Korea.
In special preparation for the games, a brand new high speed rail has been constructed to transport fans to and from the event.The track opened in December 2017, and it reduces the transport time from Seoul by half - now just taking approximately one and a quarter hours. There are also new and expanded highways between Pyeongchang and coastal city Gangneung, meaning getting to the games should be a breeze.
You can't have an Olympics without a stadium and Pyeongchang have gone all out by building a brand new 35,000 seater for spectators to marvel at and enjoy. Bizarrely the venue will only be used to host the opening and closing ceremonies.Not only that, but it's cost the organisers an eye-watering $109 million to construct and will then be torn down afterwards. Go figure.
Not content with just racking up plenty of expenditure on the new stadium, the budget for the games as a whole is HUGE. So far the costs have spiralled and the end figure will be approximately $18 billion. That being said, it's a stark improvement on the last games in Sochi, which cost five times that amount at an estimated $70 billion.
The Olympic village is always a focal point for attention as all the athletes bundle in together for the duration of their stay. There are two separate villages this year, with the main one in Pyeongchang housing up to 3,894 performers and official team members. The second over in Gangneung isn't exactly small either, playing host to a further 2,900 people.
This year, winter sports fans will be treated to a bit more action than usual, with four new events set to be included. The IOC has made some additions to the schedule, with big air snowboarding, freestyle skiing, mass start speed skating and mixed doubles curling all due to feature. That means a total of 102 events across the 15 sports this time round.
The National Hockey League has decided that there players will not be permitted to take part, after failing to agree to a break in their regular season. 1998 was the last time this happened and the decision has not gone down too well with the Professional players. Instead the ice rink will be the stage for amateur players to make a name for themselves, so we wish those guys the best of puck (I know, I'm sorry).
The new mascot for the 2018 games is Soohorang! Organisers opted for a tiger due to the cultural roots of Korea and it's place in native mythology. It is also regarded as a symbol of strength, protection and trust in Korean folklore. He's bound to be a roaring success. And he is very cute.
As ever, it wouldn't be an Olympic Games without a few problems. Following their own admission, Russia will not be competing in this years games due to their previous approval of a statewide doping programme. Russian athletes are still permitted to take part, providing they can prove they are clean from any involvement with drugs. 28 bans have recently been overturned, which is in addition to the previous 169 athletes who were cleared to compete. Those that do will have to do so under a neutral flag however, and will have to abide by a special code of conduct. So come what may, by the end of the tournament the records will still show zero medals for Russia no matter the results.
In what is bound to be the raunchiest Olympics to date, organisers are handing out 110,000 condoms to athletes taking part in PyeongChang this year - a new record for the winter games.
With 2,925 athletes taking part, that is enough for each participant to have sex 37 times over the 16 days of action.
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