What You NEED To Know About the Winter Olympics

Subscribe to Talltanic http://goo.gl/wgfvrr 14 - Bring on the bling… Let’s talk medals, and see what designer Lee Suk-woo came up with for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The medals feature letters from the Korean alphabet in 3-D format. The lined effect was to symbolise tree trunks with the aim to reflect on how far the Korean culture has come. The reverse of the medal shows which discipline it was won in, and the PyeongChang 2018 emblem. 13 - Age is but a number… What makes the Olympic Games unique is that it’s one of those rare sporting events that mixes people of any ages. For example, Claudia Pechstein, the German speed skater is 45-years old, whereas the youngest person to compete is Vincent Zhou, a 17-year old figure skater from the US. Some notable older competitors from past events include Oscar Swahn, who was 72 when he won a silver medal at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. 12 - Show your support… It’s tradition to have a mascot with each Olympic Games that takes place, not to mention it does help to sell that merchandise, doesn’t it? The mascot for the 2018 games is a white tiger named Soohorang. This friendly tiger is steeped in Korean folk tales, and is a part of Korean mythology and culture. Soohorang represents trust, strength and protection. 11 - What’s your favourite? Here’ a list of what sports you can look forward to from the comfort of your TV room: alpine skiing biathlon bobsleigh cross-country skiing curling figure skating freestyle skiing ice hockey, luge Nordic combined short-track speed skating skeleton ski jumping snowboarding speed skating 10 - Full Support… It’s wonderful when well-known people lend their name to events such as these, and the 2018 Winter Olympics have seen some well-respected ambassadors come on board. Yuna Kin is a former Olympic figure skater, and it was Yuna that lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. Other names associated with the event include South Korean President Moon Jae-in, LA Dodgers baseball pitcher, Hyun-jin Ryu and South Korean K-pop star Taeyang. 9 - Where to next? The next destination for the Winter Olympics is Beijing. They have hosted the Summer Olympics with great success in 2008, so there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that this will be even bigger and better! 8 - Winds of change… Albeit for a short period only. We’re no experts on the situation in North Korea, but we can highlight a few hot topics. Kim Jong-Un, Communism – yes, that’s wide open for discussion, nuclear programs and censorship. Many have asked whether North Koreans would even be able to watch the games, and the answer is YES with a few but’s. They can watch, BUT it won’t be broadcast live and there will most certainly be censorship. 7 - History in the making… It’s been a long time since Mexico has sent more than one athlete to the Olympics, so they’re pretty happy that they have three Mexicans competing. They are Robert Franco, Sarah Schleper and Rodolfo Dickson. They have all qualified for alpine skiing. 6 - First time for everything… Including competing in the Winter Olympics! It’s the first time that the following nations are competing: Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore. 5 - And the winner is… We can’t predict the future, but there are ways and means to figure out who might come out onn top, although hopefully there will be a few surprises! With fewer Russians competing, bear in mind they were the big winners in 2014, it’s predicted that Germany will be the ones to take home the most medals, followed closely by Norway and then America. 4 - Stone’s throw away… Seoul is a likely destination for most tourists heading to the games, and that’s roughly 2.5 hours away from Pyeongchang. A new high-speed railway was built to cut that travel time by half. Over 20,000 people are expected to travel on these trains daily, which also connects travellers to the airport! 3 - Not invited… It must have been a bitter blow for the NHL – National Hockey League in America – to learn that they were not going to be permitted to take part in the Winter Olympics this year. The last time this happened was in 1998. The decision was taken to rather send in amateur players to try and make a name for themselves. What do you think of that decision? 2 - Baby, it’s cold outside… It’s speculated that the temperatures in South Korea at the moment, are the coldest they’ve experienced in Olympic Games since it was hosted in Norway in 1994. One reading from PyeongChang Olympic Stadium was –8°F. In fact, news broadcasters working in the region have said that their water based make-up has actually frozen on their faces, while reporting outside! That’s a clear indication of just how freezing cold it is there! 1...