By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Diya Mitra from the U.K.
Cartoons, Photos = Diya Mitra















Of course by all means don a pair of skis and go whizzing down the mountain side, but have a couple of practice runs before you do! It's the time of year to be inspired by the 2018 Winter Olympics and get behind your country to win and hang out with a couple of cute mascots -- Soohorang and Bandabi -- in the process.

About 80 miles east of Seoul is Pyeongchang. Here is where the 23rd Winter Olympic Games are being held. The first ever Winter Games took place in Chamonix, France, in 1924. In the current Games, 15 sport disciplines are taking place across 13 venues. Four of these events are seeing their debut at these games. These are: curling mixed doubles, the alpine skiing team event, speed-skating mass start and big air snowboarding. By adding these, the Olympic Committee is hoping to see a rise in younger audiences and ensure the start of gender equality in sports.

The venues where these events are taking place are all within 30 minutes of the main Olympic stadium. This is where the world watched in amazement as the Opening Ceremony took place on Feb. 9.

Highlights of the event were not limited to:
■ Atheletes from both North and South Korea entered together under a flag depicting the Korean Peninsula.
■ Hwang Su-Mi sung the Greek lyrics of the Olympic anthem attired in a beautiful traditional South Korean gown.
■ Kim Nam-ki, the oldest man alive among performers at the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympic, filled the stadium with his voice of the original version of the song "Jeongseon Arirang."
■ A record-setting 1,218 drones came together to form the five Olympic rings in the sky, drawing the breath of viewers from around the world.

I got the chills watching John Lennon’s “Imagine” being sung by folk-rock icon Jeon In-kwon, Ha Hyun-woo from the rock band Guckkasten, and indie pop singer Ahn Ji-young from the group Bolbbalgan4.

I also watched in awe as Kim Yuna performed a short skating routine before being handed the torch to light the Olympic cauldron.

Song Seung-whan was the executive creative director for the Opening Ceremony. The narrative of the ceremony began as a fairy-tale adventure with five children learning about Korea’s history and traditions through time. Song is best known for creating the musical "Nanta," also known as "Cookin’" or "Cookin’ Nanta." That's a nonverbal drumming performance that debuted in 1997. The show mixes slapstick, music, cooking and traditional Korean drumming. I was able to see this along with my fellow honorary reporters back in Seoul in 2016. You can read Korea.net Honorary Reporter Ma Chun Meng’s review of the event here.

By the end of the Olympic Gamess, which will have their Closing Ceremony on Feb. 25, a record of 102 medals will be awarded across 15 events.

This is the second time that Korea has hosted an Olympics. The first was in 1988 when they hosted the summer Olympics. I will always remember that time as Steffi Graf’s victory in the Golden Grand Slam. Not only did this amazing tennis player win all the majors of the tennis calendar, but she also walked away with the gold for Germany in Seoul. When I visited Seoul in 2008, I was able to go to the Olympic Park and take a picture on the court where she achieved this amazing feat.





wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.