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Olympic time!!!


2018 Winter Olympics: What you need to know
By Robert Jimison, CNN
Updated 10:55 AM EST, Fri February 02, 2018

(CNN) The 2018 Winter Olympics are set for February 9-25. Here's a quick guide, including location, new events, venues, how to watch the Games, the mascot and ticket sales. Competitions will be held at 13 venues for the Winter Games. For the first time, TV viewers in all US time zones will have access to live coverage of the Games, instead of a delayed replay.

What city is hosting?
The host city this time is PyeongChang, South Korea.


The city is about 80 miles (125 kilometers) east of Seoul and about 60 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. A train between Seoul and PyeongChang takes about 90 minutes.

Officials announced in 2011 that the city had beaten top bids from Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France.


Has South Korea hosted before?
This will be the second Olympic Games held in South Korea. (Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988.)

Opening and closing ceremonies will be housed at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, a temporary structure with capacity for 35,000 spectators.

When do the Games take place?
Competition for the 2018 Games starts on Thursday, February 8.

Opening ceremonies will take place the next day, Friday, February 9.

Closing ceremonies will be Sunday, February 25.


Other details: The men's ice hockey final will take place on the last day of competition. Luge, ski jumping and biathlon events will take place at night, under floodlights, according to the Games' website.

What's the time difference?
South Korea is 14 hours ahead of New York. It's 15 hours ahead of Chicago. It's 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles. It's nine hours ahead of London.

How to watch
For those in the United States, NBC will broadcast the games on TV and online. In the United Kingdom, fans can watch the Games on BBC TV and digital platforms.

Are there any new events this year?
There are four events added by the International Olympic Committee for 2018.

On the slopes, athletes will now be able to compete in big air snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

On the ice, get ready for mass start speed skating and mixed doubles curling.

Overall, the athletes at PyeongChang will compete in seven sports -- biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing -- with 15 varied disciplines across all sports.

The competitors each will be hoping to take home at least one of the 102 medals up for grabs.

What do the medals look like?
Created by designer Lee Suk-woo, the medals for these Games feature dynamic diagonal lines and three-dimensional consonants from the Korean alphabet that stretch across the face, according to the official website.

They've been crafted with a texture to resemble tree trunks, symbolizing "the work that has gone into developing Korean culture and the Games themselves," the website said.

Between the bronze, silver and gold medals. the gold weighs the most -- at 586 grams. Overall, 259 sets of medals have been cast for these Games.

South Korea has already managed to overcome a few major hurdles, including construction delays, logistical conflicts and lack of enthusiasm from sponsors.

But early ticket sales have been slow.

Organizers are $267 million short of the $2.4 billion budget needed to operate the games.

Still, previous host cities that faced similar financial issues saw a large increase in ticket sales during the final months leading up to the games.

The 2018 mascot is a white tiger named Soohorang. The tiger is "closely associated with Korean mythology and culture" and is a "familiar figure in Korean folk tales as a symbol of trust, strength and protection," according to the Games website.

Along with former Olympic figure skater Yuna Kim, honorary ambassadors for these Games include South Korean President Moon Jae-in, former NFL wide receiver Hines Ward and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu.

Another honorary ambassador, South Korean K-pop star Taeyang, is a member of Big Bang, South Korea's biggest boy band. He's also the first K-pop act to be featured on Forbes' prestigious Celebrity 100 list.

Where and when did the first Winter Games take place?
The 2018 Games in PyeongChang will be the 23rd Winter Olympics. The first Winter Olympics took place in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

Where will future Games be held?
After South Korea, the Winter Games move to Beijing in 2022. You might remember Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008. The next Summer Games will be in Tokyo in 2020, followed by Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.

I knew it.

Bummer that NBC have the rights. They are absolutely terrible at Olympic coverage.

Pretty sure you can find coverage online.

During summer olympics, the equestrian coverage is always available online.

Prepare for hours of, "Watch <Top American Athlete> Go for Gold! Coming up next" teased for hours, while they show bits and pieces of some competitions, lots of stuff nobody cares about, and all kinds of forced human-interest stories. Followed by the actual gold medal event at 10:55, hours after everyone has gone to bed.

Look at the upside, we don’t have to look at or listen to Matt Lauer.

I'm actually looking forward to the opening ceremonies. I'll just go ahead and stereotype and say that I think a country like South Korea is going to put a pretty incredible show.

Pretty pumped for this...

Cool!!!

Opening ceremony is 6 am EST this Friday.

I love watching major live events early in the morning.

It looks like the Alpine Skying, Curling and Ski Jumping events start tomorrow. Pre-opening ceremony.

(me warming-up on the bunny slope last week)


(why?)

If I were an Olympic ski jumper, you'd hear that "Agony of Defeat" sound clip while I was huddled in the corner of the hut at the top of the jump, crying, sucking my thumb and asking for mommy.

But that's just me. My style.

If I was on the Ski jump I would be betting you that I could chug my beer before I landed

I'm spent after watching the grueling mixed doubles curling competition.



Switzerland destroyed the U.S. 9-4.

China and Korea also lost to Canada and Norway respectively.

Go figure.

I've gotta pace myself. It's not even the opening ceremony yet. (8 more hours)

I'm sorry, but curling is not a sport.

Watching the men's short program on ice and I swear every skater has fallen. Hopefully the quality gets better because nobody has shown they deserve to be there.

On a side note...I actually quite enjoy curling. I like the strategic aspect of it.

I dislike how they are doing things backwards.

The opening ceremonies should be first.

Before everything starts.

Maybe I'm missing something. BUT opening ceremonies aren't until tomorrow.

I dislike how these olympics are starting out.

I also found this nicely explained guide that explains how you can watch the Olympics on different devices. Here is a link to it (https://www.purevpn.com/blog/how-to-watch-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-live-sprt/)

Si I'm reading where the Russians are competing even tho they have been banded ???

Yes, they're competing but not as Russians. I'm not sure who're they're representing, maybe they've teamed with the elves at the North Pole?

The highly politicized Pyeongchang Olympics are officially opening, but not without some last-minute drama as the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that 45 Russian athletes will still be excluded from the games.

The Russians had not received invites to the games from the International Olympic Committee, which said it couldn't be sure they weren't involved in Russian doping scandals.

Another 168 Russians have been invited as "Olympic Athletes from Russia," competing in neutral uniforms under the Olympic flag.

I would've preferred the flag of the north pole, the one with a big red nose on it.

Neither is figure skating.. this isn't about "sports" it's about competition, they are not the same thing.

I like that year. Curling is a sport.
I used to like the winter Olympics more than the Summer;

But I haven't relly paid attention since they split apart from having them both in the same year, with a full 4 year break until the next Olympics. There is nothing about the Olympics I want to see except that the closing has occurred meaning it's over for another too short gap before they start off with this stuff again.

Same with Basketball.
Baseball is much easier to ignore totally for some reason.

It was like that in 2014 too. They added more medal events and it pushed their schedule outside of the 2 weeks. Why don't they just push the opening ceremony to Wednesday or Thursday? My guess is ratings.

There's more millennials competing these days, they are probably just going for the participation trophy.

Cost To Buy Team USA Opening Ceremony Outfit By Ralph Lauren: $5,855!

Controllable Heat Parka ($2,500)*

Suede Gloves ($995)*

Suede Boots ($995)*

Sweater ($595)

Jeans ($295)*

Belt ($195)

Hat ($165)

Bandana ($125)

*Sold Out





https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/962142785926287360

The combined Korean team march was rather moving in the opening ceremonies tonight.

That ski slope thing was pretty epic.

See ...the thing is you all rode my ass that Equestrian events are not a sport during the summer olympics.

So yenno, Equestrian...way up here....curling way down there.

But try to defend it. Ok.

And curling is about as much a sport as shuffleboard is.

But don't be a buzzkill for the old people on cruises.

They don't want to know that shuffleboard isn't really anything.

These boots are for "show". Like for walking around town.

Or maybe hiking in fair weather.

I wouldn't have worn them backpacking. Not in the winter.

$1,000? What a rip-off.


They're not water-proof.

If you step in any snow over 6" your feet are gonna get wet and cold for as long as the boot is on. (all day if you're backpacking overnight)

Here's the Mark X. A real winter hiking boot. (kind of a modified "duck boot"



Water proof, rubber lowers, gortex uppers, vibram soles, thick wool inserts.



The vibram soles give the best foot traction commercially available without spikes.

A real hiking boot. Probably around $150.

An LL Bean Duck boot. Still better than the "Official Winter Olympic Boot" (probably $95):

I forgot how annoying NBC's Olympic coverage is. On the brightside, I was able to see the torch lit by 8pm this time, rather than 12:30 at night, so they're slowly learning.

Just get the NBC Sports app and you can stream what you want to see when you want to see it.

I'm lucky enough to get the Canadian channel out of Windsor Ontario. They have excellent coverage with more focus on the events vs. side stories. The announcers are easier on the ears also.

Watched snowboarding for the first time earlier today. My LORD, how they stick those landings from that height and coming out of the tricks they're doing is beyond me. VERY impressive.

NBC requires proof of a tv service subscription.

Women's biathlon was on earlier. Man that's some tough stuff! Great event!

So here’s what you do, you get a free trail from Hulu or Sling TV or Playstation Vue or whatever your method of streaming supports it. Then you watch your two weeks of the Olympics and if you otherwise don’t like the service you can cancel it. This will give you on demand Olympics and you can see it before it’s shown on network TV.

Yet it is. It's as much of a sport as the pole vault. And does it really matter whether you think it's a sport? Or if you don't?
Make me a grilled cheese, would ya?

Hey man, my grilled cheese rules the universe. You would be lucky to taste it.

And I am only giving you guys crap, because I had to listen to endless comments about how equestrian isn't a sport when the last summer games were here.

Turn abouts fair play!!

I think the only person who ever agreed with me about that (equestrian) was PDX.

Aren’t the Olympics supposed to be about each countries athletes against all the other countries? Why is the two ice dancers for South Korea both Americans?

Also, can I have some ham with my grilled cheese?

Girls parents are Korean and she had dual citizenship,,, she wanted to compete for South Korea so her partner got his South Korean citizenship...