2018 Winter Olympics and Citizenship in the World
The time has come for the 2018 Winter Olympics, and it has taken over our house! It does not matter what time of the day, our TV always has an Olympic event on. As we were sitting as a family watching some ice skating (i was secretly watching hockey on my phone with the NBC app...) it dawned on me that there has to be a requirement that could be passed off during the Olympics... Sure enough, Citizenship in the World 3a. What a great event to talk about security, economy, values, and health of the citizens. Opening ceremonies is one of those events that is great to watch with your family or scout and see how diverse our world is as each country marches through the arena during the parade. On top of watching the Olympic events, its a very safe assumption that we will be watching Eddie the Eagle and Cool Runnings. Both exceptional movies about true events from the 1988 Winter Olympics.
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (Korean: 제23회 동계 올림픽, translit. Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpik) and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, is an ongoing international multi-sport event hosted by the county of Pyeongchang, South Korea. The county was selected as the host city in July 2011, during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. It marks the first time that South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics, and the second Olympics held in the country, the first being the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
The Winter Olympics runs from 9 to 25 February 2018, with certain events being held on 8 and 9 February 2018 prior to the opening ceremony. The games feature 102 events in fifteen sports disciplines, including the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the Winter Olympic programme. A total of 2,952 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees are slated to compete, including the debut of Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.
The lead-up to these Games was affected by the ongoing tensions between South Korea and North Korea, and also the ongoing missile crisis involving the country. These led to security concerns, with several countries threatening to skip the games if their safety was not ensured. In January 2018, after their first high-level talks in over two years, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games. The countries also marched together during the opening ceremony and agreed to field a unified women's hockey team. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Winter_Olympics