The 2018 Winter Olympics began last Friday in South Korea, although some events have already begun even before that, the official game day started on February 9. This includes the opening ceremony where countries had to parade with their feelings of pride and flags to represent their home country.
There are approximately 3,000 athletes who have joined this 2018 Winter Olympics and they came from 93 countries who are aiming to get one of the 102 medals from 15 different sports. The Olympics were set to begin on the 9th of February and it will end on the 25th of February.
This has been considered as one of the most controversial Winter Olympics because of the involvement of North Korea that kind of scared away some athletes and also the scandals that made Russian athletes get kicked out of the tournament even before it begins, continue reading to find out more.
2018 Winter Olympics’ Extremely Cold Weather
It is called as Winter Olympics for a reason, but it seems like it will be a lot colder this time around because it will happen in South Korea. These athletes are of course used to compete in such a cold weather, but the fans such as families and friends who will be watching would definitely have to find a way to keep themselves warm since it is an open-air venue after all.
According to the weather report by the Korean Meteorological Administration, the opening ceremony which started around 20:00 local time, had a temperature of 23F or -5C.
The Olympic stadiums in PyeongChang heights have any roof of heating, but attendees will be given some blankets as well as some sit warmers and even hats so they could at least feel a bit warmer. Because of this extreme cold weather, this 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics has been the considered as the coldest Olympics of all time after beating the Lillehammer, Norway Olympics weather back in 1994, which has an verage high of 27F or -2.7C.
The mayor of PyeongChang, Sim Jae-kook, said in an interview with CNN that they were able to host the Winter Olympics simply because of how cold their town gets, which is what exactly the Winter Olympics mean.
He also mentioned that they are expecting about 150,000 people from all over the world to attend the opening ceremony and about 2 million people will be in PyeongChang themselves to witness the 2018 Winter Olympics. People has managed to easily get there became of the newly added speed train from Seoul to PyeongChang.
North Korean Involvement and Russian Athletes Scandal
The Winter Olympics is currently being held in South Korea, which means that there is a huge possibility that North Korea will be involved. In fact, they have sent 22 athletes to compete, as well as some cheering squad and they had to parade with the athletes from North Korea during the opening ceremony under the Korean Unification Flag. However, this wouldn’t be the only time that the athletes from North and South Korea would be together, because some of them would be partnered up in some games such as the ice hockey team game.
The North Korean athletes weren’t the only ones who are expected to join the Olympics, because Kim Jong Un’s sister will also make history by making an appearance for a three-day visit. Kim Yo Jong is considered to be her brother’s strongest confidant and is the very first member of the Kim dynasty to ever set foot to South Korea.
Unfortunately, people wouldn’t see the Russian flag being involved and represented in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, this is after over 1,000 Russian athletes were proven to have been using performance enhancing drugs, which led to the International Olympic Committee to suspend them and not let them compete.
U.S. Flag Bearer Controversy
Olympic veteran Erin Hamlin was chosen to carry the flag of her country, the United States, during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang South Korea. She has managed to smile broadly as she waved the flag together with her fellow American athletes. This is despite the controversial tweet that her fellow American athlete made.
Shani Davis who is a speed skater, were one of the candidates for the flag bearer role and the with winter sports federations had to vote on who they think should carry the flag, Hamlin and Davis got a tie and a coin toss has to happen according to the rules wherein Hamlin won.
However, Davis didn’t like the idea of the toss coin and the fact that he didn’t win it, which he made pretty clear on his controversial tweet. This is Hamlin’s last time representing her country to the Olympics because she revealed that she will be retiring.