PyeongChang Winter Olympics

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, also called the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, were held in Pyeongchang County, South Korea, from February 9 to 25. South Korea won the right to host the Games by defeating bids from Germany and France. Around 3,000 athletes from 90 countries competed in 102 events in the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first Olympic tournament South Korea has hosted since the Summer Olympics were held in Seoul in 1988.

Sports and Events

The Winter Olympics have always featured outdoor events for snow sports and sliding sports as well as indoor events for ice sports. Snow sports such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, biathlon, ski jumping, freestyle and snowboarding are always held on snow-covered mountain slopes, while sliding sports such as bobsleigh, luge and skeleton are held on steep, ice-covered courses on which competitors slide downhill on various kinds of sled. Ice sports are held in special indoor venues, some of which have ice rinks for figure skating, ice hockey and curling competitions, while others have ice-covered tracks for speed skating events.

All the outdoor events at the 2018 Winter Olympics were held at ski resorts in the mountains of Pyeongchang County about 180 kilometres east of Seoul, while the indoor events were held in the coastal city of Gangneung around 20 kilometres further east.

Olympic Venues

The snow and sliding sports were held at outdoor venues in or near Alpensia, a mountain resort near the town of Daegwallyeong-myeon in Pyeongchang County. These venues include the spectacular Alpensia Sliding Centre, the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre, the Alpensia Biathlon Centre and the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre. Nearby venues include the Jeongseon and Yongpyong Alpine Centres for slalom and other Alpine skiing events, and the Bokwang Snow Park for freestyle and snowboarding. The Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in which the opening and closing ceremonies were held is also in this area, as are the media centre and the Olympic Village.

All the venues for ice sports are at the Gangneung Olympic Park in the coastal city of Gangneung. They include special venues for ice hockey and curling as well as a venue for figure skating and speed skating called the Gangneung Ice Arena that cost $85 million to build. This cost, like all venue and infrastructure costs, came from a South Korean government budget of nearly $13 billion.

b) Make up 5alternative and 5 disjunctive questions to them.

C) Answer the following questions, using information from the Internet.

1. How many winter sports events were included in the Winter Olympics? Name them.

2. How many world records and Olympic records have been set at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics?

3. What country has won the most total medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics?

4. What country has won the most gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics?

D) Compose an essay on the topic “My favourite Olympic sportsman”. Be ready to retell it.