President Thomas Bach (right) of the International Olympic Committee passes the Olympic flame to President Miroslav Lajcak of the UN General Assembly near the Alpensia Olympic Park in Pyeongchang-gun County, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 9, the opening day of the Olympic Games. (Yonhap News)
By Sohn JiAe
The 2018 PyeongChang Olympic flame wrapped up its long journey on Feb. 9 as it arrived in the host city of Pyeongchang in Gangwon-do Province.
Starting on Nov. 1, 2017, the torch was carried across Incheon, Jeju-do Island, Gyeongsang-do and Jeolla-do, through to Gyeonggi-do and Seoul, meaningfully covering exactly 2,018 km.
The final leg of the torch relay has ignited an Olympic fever across the host city, as the Opening Ceremony was about to take place.
Among the 7,500 torch bearers, there were President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), President Miroslav Lajcak of the U.N. General Assembly, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and former and current Olympians.
The Olympic flame passed through the Alpensia Olympic Park, a venue for many Olympic events, Woljeongsa Temple, home to a forest of fir trees, and, also, through the Uiyaji Wind Village perched on the slopes of the mountainous Daegwallyeong region at around 800 m above sea level.
The Olympic torch will blaze for 17 days until Feb. 25 when the Olympic Games come to an end.
jiae5853@korea.kr
