It is such a pity that the Winter Olympics always seem to get the short end of the stick – I am guilty myself of normally watching only the figure skating. Sometimes the men’s hockey.

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There is an amount of insult connected to this, when we cheer and go bananas for the Summer Games, and let the Winter Games slide. PyeongChang 2018 is luckily getting some mainstream media attention – unfortunately due to the political breakthrough, but at least it is in the headlines. And about to kick off. Did you know that Munich also put in a bid for this Winter Games? Which would have made Munich the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics – but they didn’t get the vote. And then there is the nasty historic connection to the 1972 Games in Munich, but moving along swiftly.

A ticket to the opening ceremony of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games or Les XXIIIèmes Jeux olympiques d'hiver will set you back US$1293 – without popcorn or a Slushy. Ticket prices to the various disciplines vary according to popularity – with figure skating and men’s ice hockey finals being the most expensive. Sadly, few Winter Games ever sell out. Which brings me back to the insult I mentioned earlier. For starters, the athletes in both train equally hard, yet I dare anyone to name off hand the Gold Medalists the way we rattle off names like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and the likes.

Personally, I think the Winter Games are much harder physically than the Summer Games – can you imagine the injury risk in bobsleigh – or even falling on the hard ice in figure skating whilst going at breakneck speed? Bobsleighs can attain speeds of 150 km/h (93 mph), with the reported world record being 201 km/h (125 mph) – I for one, wouldn’t want to fall out of one of those at that speed. Or be injured in those conditions. Sure, in the summer games hurdlers trip and fall too, but even Usain Bolt won’t fall or trip whilst going 200km/h. We have to respect this don’t you think?

The 2018 Winter Olympics will feature 102 events in 15 sports. Four new disciplines in existing sports will be introduced in Pyeongchang, including big air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling, mass start speed skating, and mixed team alpine skiing.

Great news is that PyeongChang 2018 will also feature two eSports tournaments (for StarCraft II and Steep) organized by Intel and supported by the IOC as a demonstration sport prior to the Opening Ceremony.

Well done to Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, and Singapore are scheduled to make their Winter Olympics debut - if they decide to participate. So far 90 teams (89 Nations as the Russians will be competing under the IOC flag due to the recent doping scandal) will enter at least one athlete in the games.

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Let’s show some sportsmanship and watch, comment and cheer these games – part of what SportsPodium is about is leveling the playing field – so let’s give recognition and support across the board. Who knows, you may emerge as a fan of a new sporting discipline.

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