Walking through the Olympic Stadium, athletes from around the world will pass a torch to light up the stadium’s cauldron to officially begin the 2018 Winter Olympic Games PyeongChang, South Korea on Feb 9. Each Olympic games have a theme and this years games will focus on the idea of peace, however the primary focus of the games are on the athletes.

Although the official host city and the Olympic Village is in PyeongChang some events will be held in different locations in South Korea. Most snow sports will be held in PyeongChang however Alpine speed event will be held in Jeongseon, and all ice sports will be held in Gangneung.

Along with some sports being held outside the city, some sports begin competing before the official opening ceremony. Biathlon, Luge and Ski Jump all begin on Jan. 7, Alpine Skiing and Curling begin on Jan. 8. All other events begin on or after Jan. 9, the day of the opening ceremony.

Each time the Olympics are hosted there are differences, and PyeongChang is no exception. Due to doping allegations during previous games in Sochi, Russia will not be competing in PyeongChang. Russian athletes wishing to compete in the games, once approved, will be competing under the name of ‘Olympic Athlete from Russia,’ but won’t be representing their federation.

The games will end on Feb. 25 with the closing ceremony in PyeongChang, and the Paralympic games will also be held right after from March 9 – 18. The Paralympic games will include events such as Biathlon, Ice Hockey and snowboard. The Paralympics will have events in both PyeongChang and Gangneung.

To see the schedule for the Winter Olympic games click here.
To see the schedule for the Paralympic games click here.