2018 Winter Paralympics

The 2018 Winter Paralympics (Korean: 2018년 동계 패럴림픽; RR: 2018nyeon Donggye Paereollimpik), the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.

XII Paralympic Winter Games
Host cityPyeongchang, South Korea
MottoPassion. Connected.
(Korean: 하나된 열정.)
Nations49
Athletes569
Events80 in 6 sports
Opening9 March
Closing18 March
Opened by
President Moon Jae-in
Cauldron
Kim Eun-jung
Seo Soon-seok
StadiumPyeongchang Olympic Stadium
Winter
Summer
2018 Winter Olympics
Paralympic agitos
Part of a series on
2018 Winter Paralympics

569 athletes representing a record 49 National Paralympic Committees participated in these Games, including 3 newcomers Georgia, North Korea and Tajikistan. Following its debut as disciplines under the Alpine programme in Sochi, snowboarding was expanded into a separate sport with 8 additional events.

Host selection
Main article: Bids for the 2018 Winter Olympics

As part of a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee first established in 2001,[1] the winner of the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics was also to host the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

Pyeongchang was elected as host during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban in 2011, earning the required majority of at least 48 votes in the first round of voting.[2][3]

2018 Winter Olympics bidding results
City Nation Votes
Pyeongchang South Korea 63
Munich Germany 25
Annecy France 7

Opening ceremony
Opening ceremony at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium
Main article: 2018 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on 9 March 2018 at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, which was built specifically for the Winter Games.[4]

Closing ceremony
Main article: 2018 Winter Paralympics closing ceremony

Sports

Competitions in the 2018 Winter Paralympics are being held in six Winter Paralympic sports, with 80 medal events in total. Snowboarding has been expanded into a separate discipline for 2018, with 10 medal events (in 2014, two medal events in snowboarding were held within the alpine skiing programme).

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2018 Winter Paralympics, each blue box represents an event competition. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport are held. The number in each yellow box represents the number of finals that are contested on that day.[5]

 ● Opening ceremony    Event competitions    Event finals ● Closing ceremony
March Fri
9th		Sat
10th		Sun
11th		Mon
12th		Tue
13th		Wed
14th		Thu
15th		Fri
16th		Sat
17th		Sun
18th		Gold
Medals
CeremoniesOCCC—
Alpine skiing 6 6 6 6 3 3 30
Biathlon 6 6 6 18
Cross-country skiing 2 4 6 6 2 20
Para ice hockey ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 1
Snowboarding 5 5 10
Wheelchair curling ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 1
Total01289121201110680

Participating National Paralympic Committees
Participating National Paralympic Committees
  • Russia is currently suspended by the International Paralympic Committee due to the state-sponsored doping program scandal.[17] However, the IPC has allowed Russian athletes to qualify as neutral participants. They fielded 30 athletes in 5 sports, participating as Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA), marching under the Paralympic flag at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the Paralympic anthem played in any ceremony.[18]
  • Four more nations competed in Pyeongchang than at the previous winter games. Georgia, North Korea and Tajikistan all made their Winter Paralympics debut,[19] while Hungary fielded a team after not competing in 2014. Tajikistan is the only country who had sent an athlete to these Games but not the 2018 Winter Olympics.
  • In total, 133 female athletes competed at the event.[20]

Venues
Main article: Venues of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics

Alpensia

Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon will be the focus of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.[21]

Standalone venue

Gangneung coastal cluster

Medals
Main article: 2018 Winter Paralympics medal table

  *   Host nation (Host nation (South Korea)[23])

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States1315836
2 Neutral Paralympic Athletes810624
3 Canada841628
4 France78520
5 Germany78419
6 Ukraine77822
7 Slovakia64111
8 Belarus44412
9 Japan34310
10 Netherlands3317
11 Switzerland3003
12 Italy2215
13 Great Britain1427
14 Norway1348
15 Australia1034
16 Finland1023
 New Zealand1023
 South Korea*1023
19 Croatia1012
20 China1001
 Kazakhstan1001
22 Austria0257
23 Spain0112
24 Sweden0101
25 Belgium0011
 Poland0011
Totals (26 entries)808081241

Broadcasting

Television rights were sold in various countries and territories; the IPC partnered with the IOC's streaming service Olympic Channel for online streaming coverage of these Paralympics.[24]

In 2017, the European Broadcasting Union renewed its rights to the Paralympics in 25 European countries through 2020 [25]

In the United States, NBC Sports announced plans to air nearly twice as much coverage on linear television as it did in Sochi, totaling 250 hours,[26] along with extensive online streaming coverage.[27]

In Canada, the CBC announced that it would broadcast over 600 hours of coverage in English and French across its platforms, including CBC Television, Ici Radio-Canada Télé, and sublicence partners Sportsnet One and AMI-tv.[28]

Channel 4 returned as the Games' rightsholder in the United Kingdom, planning over 100 hours of television coverage on Channel 4 and 4seven.[29]

Tickets

Ticket prices for the 2018 Winter Paralympics were announced on 8 June 2017 and tickets went on sale on 21 August 2017.[30]

Prices for sporting event tickets range from ₩10,000 to 50,000 (approx. $8–45 USD). Opening and closing ceremony tickets range from ₩10,000 to ₩140,000 (approx. $8–125 USD).[30][31]

As of 19 January, tickets to the Paralympic Games were 70% sold. (155,000 tickets out of a total of 223,353 allocated).[32][33][34]

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem for the 2018 Winter Paralympics was unveiled on 29 October 2013 at the National Museum of Korea. It incorporates stylized renditions of the hangul letter ㅊ ch (as also used in the Olympic emblem), which symbolizes part of the name Pyeongchang and resembles ice crystals. The Paralympic emblem features two of these letters joined together, symbolizing equality and a "grand" festival welcoming international athletes and spectators.[35][36]

Mascot
Main article: Soohorang and Bandabi

The official mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 2 June 2016. The Paralympic mascot, Bandabi, is an Asian black bear that symbolizes "strong will and courage".[37]

Cultural events

To attract interest from residents and foreign tourists, the Korea Tourism Organization organized Snow Festival, a "Hallyu festival", to serve as cultural programming for the Paralympics. Actors Jang Keun-suk and Lee Dong-wook purchased 2,018 and 1,000 tickets for themselves and fans to attend meetups at para ice hockey games, while a K-pop concert featuring B1A4 and BtoB was also organized.[38][39][40][41][42]

Concerns and controversies

North Korean relations
See also: North Korea–South Korea relations and North Korea at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

Prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics, North Korea agreed to have its athletes march together with those of the South Korean team during the opening ceremonies, and field a unified women's hockey team. However, during a meeting in Pyeongchang between the leaders of their National Paralympic Committees, the two countries were unable to organize a similar arrangement for the Paralympics. The South Korean Paralympic Committee stated that North Korean officials had requested that the Liancourt Rocks (which are the subject of an ongoing sovereignty dispute between South Korea and Japan) be included on the Korean Unification Flag during the Paralympics. South Korea declined this request, as they considered it contradictory to IPC recommendations against political gestures.[43]

IPC president Andrew Parsons expressed disappointment over the decision, but noted that the country "respects and values the IPC's vision and mission" and had "committed to working further with the IPC to improve the lives of people with an impairment in North Korea", while also acknowledging that the IOC had "made great progress in opening up dialogue between the two nations" prior to the Olympics, and that their meeting "underlines the tremendous ability of sport to bring countries together in positive dialogue."[44]

See also

Notes
  1. "Paralympics 2012: London to host 'first truly global Games'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  2. Longman, Jeré; Sang-hun, Choe (6 July 2011). "2018 Winter Games to Be Held in Pyeongchang, South Korea". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  3. Hersh, Philip (6 July 2011). "Pyeongchang wins 2018 Winter Olympics". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 April 2017.
  4. Horwitz, Josh (25 January 2018). "South Korea's $100 million Winter Olympics stadium will be used exactly four times". Quartz. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  5. "CoSport – Paralympic Event Tickets". cosport.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  6. "Australia's Seven Network to show PyeongChang 2018". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. "Brasil terá três atletas na Paralimpíada de Inverno de PyeongChang 2018". Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. "PyeongChang 2018". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  9. "平昌冬残奥会中国体育代表团在京成立". 中国中央电视台. 3 March 2018.
  10. "PyeongChang 2018: Daniel Wagner's Winter Games dream". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  11. "PyeongChang 2018: Bochet to carry French flag". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  12. "Germany reveal kit for PyeongChang 2018". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  13. "British alpine skiers and snowboarders named for PyeongChang 2018". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  14. "North Korea invited to participate in first-ever Winter Paralympic Games at Pyeongchang 2018". 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  15. "PyeongChang 2018: Arly Velasquez ready to surprise". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  16. Hjelmberg, Henrik. "Svenska truppen till Paralympics uttagen". Sveriges Paralympiska Kommitté. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  17. "With one year until 2018 Winter Games, Russia's status murky". 9 February 2017.
  18. "IPC allow Russian athletes to compete as neutrals at Pyeongchang 2018 but maintain suspension". Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  19. "Following the Feb. 9–25 Olympic Games, the 12th Winter Paralympic Games opened March 9 in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, along with the sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon". Yonhap News. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  20. Pavitt, Michael (4 March 2022). "Beijing 2022 to feature record number of female athletes at Winter Paralympics". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  21. PyeongChang 2018 Alpensia Resort and water park complete and full for summer season Archived 12 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "Jeongseon Alpine Centre to host Para alpine skiing and snowboard in 2018". paralympic.org. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  23. "Medal Standings". Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympics. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  24. "International Paralympic Committee and Olympic Channel join forces to cover Pyeongchang 2018". Inside the Games. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  25. "EBU – EBU brings the best of Paralympic sport to over 25 countries across Europe". European Broadcasting Union. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  26. "NBC Sports Group's Coverage of the 2018 Paralympic Games "By the Numbers"". 7 March 2018.
  27. "How to Watch—And What to Expect From—the Winter Paralympics 2018 on NBC". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  28. "CBC/Radio-Canada offer 600-plus hours of Paralympic coverage". CBC Sports. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  29. "Channel 4 to broadcast 100 hours of Paralympics from Pyeongchang 2018". Inside the Games. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  30. "PyeongChang 2018 ticket prices announced". paralympic.org. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  31. "PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games Ticket Prices Announced". Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  32. "평창패럴림픽 티켓 판매율 0.2%…관심 절실" [PyeongChang Paralympics Ticket Selling Rate 0.2% ... An urgent concern]. Yonhapnews. 27 October 2017.
  33. "Pyeongchang 2018 unveil ticket design and open offline sales in bid to encourage buyers". 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  34. "Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic ticket sales rise to 61 per cent". Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  35. "Pyeonchang 2018 unveils official Paralympic emblem". 29 October 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  36. "PyeongChang 2018 Launches Official Emblem". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  37. "Tiger and bear mascots unveiled for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics". 2 June 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  38. "Stars invite fans to join them at Paralympics". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  39. "Jang Keun-suk and Lee Dong-wook in 'Christmas in March' for Paralympics". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  40. "Actor Lee Dong-wook named honorary ambassador for PyeongChang Olympics". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  41. Herald, The Korea (4 March 2018). "[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korea to hold hallyu festival to boost Paralympics". Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  42. "Festival celebrating Korean culture launched to help promote Winter Paralympic Games". Inside the Games. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  43. "'Flag dispute' halts joint Korean march". BBC News. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  44. "North, South Korea to march separately in Paralympics opening ceremony". CBC Sports. Retrieved 8 March 2018.

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