Excerpted from NBC News, January 07, 2018

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — By the time the 23rd Olympic Winter Games get around to their Opening Ceremony on Friday, hundreds of athletes will already have been in action for a day and a half, starting Wednesday night with a new version of the ice chess otherwise known as curling.

The pomp and pageantry of the official Opening Ceremony won't get under way in PyeongChang until 6 a.m. ET Friday. But by daybreak Thursday ET, the brooms will already have been out for eight games of mixed doubles curling; men's ski jumping will also be well under way by dawn. Meanwhile, one of the most popular events, figure skating, glides into action Thursday night.

"It's fun, but it's cold," said Rich Lepping, chairman of the U.S. Curling Association, who watched as U.S. siblings Matt and Becca Hamilton won their first match in the inaugural mixed doubles curling competition Thursday morning against a team of Olympic athletes from Russia...

Men's individual normal hill ski jumping, which takes off with qualifying at 7:30 a.m. ET Friday, will feature one of the stars of the Games, three-time medalist Noriaki Kasai of Japan. At 45, Kasai — known as The Legend — is taking part in an unprecedented eighth Winter Olympiad."It's an amazing record," Kasai told The Japan Times. "I'm really excited. My goal is the same every time, and it's to win a gold medal."

NBC is airing 176 hours of live coverage in the United States, concluding with the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 25. NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, meanwhile, will stream more than 1,800 hours of coverage.

Erik Ortiz and Alex Johnson, reporters

Lifetime Olympic Bans Overturned by Court

Excerpted from BBC Sport, 03 February, 2018 --

"Despite International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach's condemnation of Russia's 'unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympics', the neutral competitors cleared to take part will be the third biggest group at the Games in Pyeongchang - behind only Canada and the United States.

And on Thursday a court overturned lifetime Olympic bans on 28 Russian competitors..there were 232 Russians competing at Sochi, when the host nation topped the medal table. Since then, 13 of those Russian medals - including four golds - have been stripped from the athletes because of doping.

However, Thursday's Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to overturn doping bans given to 28 Russian athletes means these may end up being given back - and Russia could once again sit top of the 2014 standings. Confused? So is the IOC...

Russian athletes are also expected to 'refrain from any public form of publicity, activity and communication associated with the national flag, anthem, emblem and symbols' at any Olympic site.This includes a ban on sharing or posting any such images or messages on social media...

Russian athletes from Sochi Games in 2016; www.dailymail.co.uk

And why should athletes who can prove they play by the rules not be allowed to take part in the biggest sporting event of their lives? The IOC found a compromise, and even though the Russians have complained at the exclusion of some of their top athletes, it has been accepted.

Many people will deplore the way this has played out, they will feel that Russia has been let off lightly, even though its athletes must adhere to a strict set of regulations governing their behaviour during the Games."

Olympic Update for Sunday, Feb. 04

Excerpted from The Guardian U.S. Edition -- 

AP in Incheon

Wearing a blue logo of a map symbolising peace between North and South Korea, the most talked-about team at the Winter Olympics was in action on Sunday in a friendly that drew thousands of spectators.

The two countries’ female ice hockey players, who only began practising together as a team about a week ago, showed plenty of fight in their first competitive match but never really threatened world no. 5 Sweden who beat them 3-1 in Incheon, South Korea. Korea will play Sweden again on 12 February during the tournament proper. 

https://vectortoons.com

The outcome didn’t seem to matter to the capacity crowd of 3,000 at the Seonhak International ice rink. Fans waved miniature flags showing a unified Korean peninsula, chanted “we are one” and screamed whenever their team went on the attack. The arena erupted when the South Korean forward Park Jong-ah cut the deficit to 2-1...

The Korea team is part of a rapprochement between the two countries for the Pyeongchang Games, which Seoul sees as an opportunity to revive meaningful communication with Pyongyang following an extended period of animosity and diplomatic stalemate over North Korea’s nuclear programmes.

The Olympics begin Friday, with Pyeongchang, which will host the skiing, snowboarding and sliding events, and Gangneung, a coastal city about an hour’s drive away, which will host the ice hockey, skating and curling events. North Korea plans to send hundreds of people to the games, including athletes, officials, artists and a 230-member cheering group...

The Observer view on the Winter Olympics and tensions with North Korea

 

Read more

What Do You Know About Paralympic Winter Sports?

From NBColympics.com, Winter Paralympic Games will occur in PyeongChang, South Korea in March 2018. Nearly 700 athletes will compete in six sports and be classified according to level of disability, including arm, leg and visual impairments.

Para Alpine Skiing features downhill, slalom and super-G events. Watch for Andrew Kurka, Danelle Umstead and Thomas Walsh on Team USA. Para Biathalon combines cross-country skiing with shooting. Keep your eyes on Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike for Team USA.

Paralympic skier Allison Jones

Para Cross-Country Skiing requires dexterity on a course. Para Ice Hockey, also known as sled hockey, features modified frames on hockey blades.

Para Snowboard will make its inaugural debut as its own discipline. Watch for Team USA members Amy Purdy, Evan Strong and Mike Schultz. Wheelchair Curling features co-ed teams, who throw a special stone by hand or with a stick, aiming to reach the center of a target.

Canadian Sledge Hockey Player, photos.newswire.ca

PyeongChang 2018 Mobile App is launched

The PyeongChang Olympic Organizing Committee launched a comprehensive mobile app for visitors and sports fans. Content is organized according to categories: VENUES, CULTURE, TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC and SPECTATOR FAQs. Information about free download for Android or iOS.

Other social media connections, save PyeongChang 2018 Event page on your Facebook account. Include the hashtag #PyeongChang2018
Spread the excitement across the Globe!'

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) posted outstanding Paralympic highlights of 2017. View top 50 moments in the Paralympic Movement 

For instance, Moment 48 is the Growth of Female Para-Sport:

According to the IPC, "2017 saw the first women’s Para ice hockeytraining camp held, as well as a wheelchair basketballcamp for women in Asia and Oceania...The training camp held in October in Chuncheon, South Korea, brought together 30 athletes and coaches from around the world, not just to work on skills but also find ways to increase the number of women playing the sport. Participants came from Armenia, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the USA...

Erica Mitchell, captain of the USA women’s Para ice hockey team, said: “In 2007, I had tried out to the men’s USA team and find out I could not play at that level because I was a female. We had nowhere to go so we ended up making a women’s USA team...This is definitely one of the best camps I’ve ever been to, and it is definitely going to put us in the right direction.”

Source: www.paralympic.org

The Fragrance of Spring - South Korean Performers in Alabama

"The Fragrance of Spring," a delightful performance was presented tonight at the historic Davis Theatre on the campus of Troy State University - Montgomery.  Sena Son, Director of Comprehensive Arts for AKEEP (Alabama - Korea Education and Economic Partnership) planned a "beautiful blend of Korean and Western musical instruments, traditional Korean Dance and Opera storytelling known as Pansori."

The story was inspired by The Tale of Chun-Hyang, a musical love story from the Joseon Dynasty, popular in Korea. The multidisciplinary performers traveled from the Republic of Korea to share their art and culture with Americans. The conclusion featured a happy celebration with audience members recruited to dance on stage!

A second performance is scheduled for January 22 at 6:00 p.m. at the Opelika Center for Performing Arts.