Tag: Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics Torch Relay, Preparations Underway: Photo Highlights

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will run from Feb. 9-25 in the alpine town and nearby cities of Jeongseon and Gangneung in South Korea.

Preparations for 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games under way
This aerial photo, taken Nov. 30, 2017, shows the Alpensia Biathlon Center, the Cross-Country Skiing Center and the Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium, where artificial snow is being made, in PyeongChang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games that will run from Feb. 9-25 in the alpine town and nearby cities of Jeongseon and Gangneung. (Yonhap)/2017-11-30 
100-day countdown to PyeongChang Paralympics
Dignitaries and guests including Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan and Lee Hee-beom, head of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee, take part in a ceremony at a training center for disabled athletes in the city of Icheon, south of Seoul, on Nov. 29, 2017, to unveil a clock tower showing the 100-day countdown to the first Winter Paralympics in South Korea. PyeongChang, an alpine resort town 180 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Province, will host the Winter Paralympic Games from March 9 to 18 next year, under the slogan “Passion. Connected.” The event follows the Winter Olympic Games, scheduled from Feb. 9 to 25. (Yonhap)/2017-11-29 

Olympic Village:

Torch Relay:

Torch relay for PyeongChang Olympics at taekwondo arena
Kim Sung-tae (L), head of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, and the foundation’s practitioners of the Korean traditional martial art taekwondo pose for a photo at a taekwondo arena in the southwestern town of Muju on Nov. 30, 2017, as they take part in the relay of the torch for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The Olympic torch relay in South Korea, which began Nov. 1, will cover 2,018 kilometers — the same number as the year of the games. (Yonhap)/2017-11-30 
PyeongChang Olympics torch relay
Kim Sang-joo (C), a resident of the southwestern city of Gwangju, carries the torch for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics at the May 18th National Cemetery in the city on Nov. 25, 2017. The Olympic torch relay in South Korea, which began Nov. 1, will cover 2,018 kilometers — the same number as the year of the games. (Yonhap)/2017-11-25 
PyeongChang Olympic flame
Seo Ki-won, an Army helicopter pilot, carries the Olympic flame for the 2018 PyeongChang Games in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, on Nov. 21, 2017. (Yonhap)/2017-11-22 

More highlights from the Torch Relay still in progress:

 

 

Door Still Open to North Korean Figure Skaters to Compete in Winter Olympics

Update:

IOC President met with N. Korean Olympic chief in Switzerland: VOA

2017/12/09

SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) — International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has met with North Korea’s Olympic body chief in Switzerland, a U.S. broadcaster said Saturday.

Bach had a meeting with North Korea’s Olympic Committee President Kim Il-guk at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Friday, according to Voice of America (VOA). VOA was citing an e-mail from the IOC’s public affairs office.

The IOC, however, didn’t elaborate on what the two officials discussed, VOA said, adding that it was a meeting for them to get to know each other after Kim became North Korea’s new Olympic body chief earlier this year.

The meeting came amid speculation that Bach might visit North Korea to discuss the communist nation’s participation in the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, next year.

The South Korean government and the organizers of the PyeongChang Games have been asking the IOC to support North Koreans competing at the Winter Olympics south of the border, which will be held from Feb. 9-25.

The IOC previously said it is willing to cover all costs for North Korean athletes if they participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.

This photo taken by the EPA shows International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach speaking at a press conference after an executive board meeting of the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Dec. 6, 2017. (Yonhap)This photo taken by the EPA shows International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach speaking at a press conference after an executive board meeting of the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Dec. 6, 2017. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) — North Korea has missed the deadline to enter its figure skating pairs team for next year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, a report claimed Friday.

NBC Sports said North Korea’s Olympic committee missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm whether it would send its qualified figure skating pairs duo, Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-ik, to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next February.

Ryom and Kim clinched their Olympic spot at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany in September.

According to NBC Sports, the International Skating Union (ISU) has not received any word from North Korea.

The non-action casts further uncertainty over the prospect of North Korea competing at a Winter Olympics hosted by South Korea for the first time. North Korea did not participate in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.

In this Associated Press file photo taken Sept. 29, 2017, North Korean pairs figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok (L) and Kim Ju-sik perform their free skating routine during the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Yonhap)In this Associated Press file photo taken Sept. 29, 2017, North Korean pairs figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok (L) and Kim Ju-sik perform their free skating routine during the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Yonhap)

But the doors are still open for North Korea. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) may grant select North Korean athletes wild card entries. IOC President Thomas Bach has repeatedly stated that the IOC has invited North Korea to participate in PyeongChang 2018 and that it has offered support if necessary.

North Korea did not compete at the 2014 Sochin Winter Olympics.

Last month, North Korea skipped the final leg of the ISU World Cup Short Track in Seoul, which doubled as the last Olympic qualifying event. North Korea only competed at the first two World Cups, and the Olympic quotas were filled based on the three best performances by skaters out of four World Cups.

The organizing committee for PyeongChang is taking a wait-and-see approach on the North’s participation. An official there said Olympic participation is apparently a sensitive issue in Pyongyang as well.