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The 2018 Winter Olympics, held in PyeongChang, South Korea took place between February 9^th and 25^th. With 2,922 athletes representing 92 nations, this was the 23^rd official Winter Olympic Games. The Olympic events and ceremonies were held in the city of PyeongChang, with the exception of the ice events, downhill, combined and super-G events which took place in the two neighboring cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon. Since it’s election in 2011 as the third Asian city to host the Winter Games, PyeongChang has been preparing. The development of venues to accommodate the 102 events has taken 7 years to complete.

Largest Venues at the PyeongChang Olympics

PyeongChang Olympic Stadium

The PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, with a capacity of 35,000 people is a temporary venue used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Located in the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza, the stadium has a unique pentagonal design with a 360-degree visibility stage in the middle. Built on an 80,000-square-meter site, the venue is 740 metres above sea level. With 7 aboveground levels and one underground level, the stadium has the highest venue capacity out of all the structures built for the games. As the final venue built for the games, it was estimated to cost $78 million US. The stadium will be used once more to host the 2018 Winter Paralympics from March 8^th to 18^th. The temporary stadium will then be torn down and removed.

Gangneung Olympic Park

The Gangneung Olympic Park, locating in Gyodong, Gangneung, South Korea consist of the Gangneung Hockey Center, Gangneung Curling Center, Gangneung Oval, and Gangneung Ice Arena. The Ice Arena is the largest venue in the sports complex, with a venue capacity of 12,000, followed closely behind by the Hockey center with a capacity of 10,000. The Gangneung Oval, used for speed skating events, has a capacity of 8,000. The smallest venue of not only the Gangneung sports complex, but of all the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics is the Gangneung Curling Center, with a capacity of 3,000.

Kwandong Hockey Center

The coastal city of Gangneung also hosts one more Olympic venue, located on the grounds of the Catholic Kwandong University is the Kwandong Hockey Center used for the women’s ice hockey events. The Kwandong Hockey Center holds a capacity of 6,000 and will serve as the new multi-purpse gymnasium for the university after the Olympics. With one Olympics Size ice rink, the venue has four floors above ground and one below ground.

Ticket Sales

Tickets for the 2018 Winter Olympics had a slow start. As of October 2017, only 20.7% of the 750,000 seats allotted to South Koreans had been sold. The 320,000 International seats had higher selling rates, with 59.7% sold by the same date. Tickets ranged from US$17 to US$776 for events, and US$190 to US$1,293 for opening and closing ceremonies. 77% of all tickets for the Olympics had been sold as of January 31^st, 2018. By the beginning of the opening ceremony, organizers said they were within one percent of their target goal of 90% of tickets sold, which equals roughly one million tickets sold.