Let the one-year countdown to 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics begin

First of all, let’s be clear: It’s Pyeong-CHANG, not Pyong-YANG.

PyeongChang, the South Korean host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics, can easily be mistaken for Pyongyang, the capital of longtime adversary North Korea. It’s also located just 50 miles south of the demilitarized zone, aka the “DMZ,” the 250-mile-long border that has separated the democratic South from the communist North since the Korean War in 1953.

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“PyeongChang is very different from Pyongyang,” Gangwon Province governor Moonsoon Choi said at last November’s World Press Briefing, the traditional Games grand tour for the media and national Olympic committees from around the world.

“Do not confuse, please,” he joked.

A year from now, the world should have no problem differentiating the two cities.

On Feb. 9, 2018, all eyes will be on PyeongChang when the Opening Ceremony officially kicks off the 2018 Winter Games. The 17 days of Olympic competition will bring some 6,500 athletes to South Korea to compete in seven sports, 15 disciplines and 102 medal events, the most ever for a Winter Olympics. PyeongChang 2018 also begins a run of three consecutive Games in Asia, with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

The fact the continent had previously hosted only two Winter Olympics (Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998) boosted the PyeongChang bid, which beat out Munich and Annecy, France, in the July 2011 vote. The third time proved to be the charm as well, ending a 10-year quest to bring the Games to the Taebaek Mountains region about 100 miles east of Seoul.

While PyeongChang grabs all the headlines, its co-host will play a very important role. Gangneung, a city of over 200,000 on the northeast coast, will be home for ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating and curling. A high-speed train, still under construction at a reported cost of $3.7 billion, is expected to cut down what would be a three-hour drive from Seoul to a one-to-two-hour train ride.

Seven of the 12 venues have been completed with the remaining five close to completion. So preparation and organization should not be an issue like the previous two Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Sochi.

Heebeom Lee, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee president, made it clear that there won’t be any #PyeongChangProblems hashtags. In his speech at the World Press Briefing, he used words like “reliable host” and “comfortable” when trumpeting the readiness of the 2018 Games.

Before you know it, the torch at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium will be lit. To get a feel for PyeongChang and Gangneung, below are images from South Korea.

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