PyeongChang 2018: 10 things you should know

With just 200 days until the beginning of PyeongChang 2018, here are 10 things you should know before the twelfth Paralympic Winter Games kick off.

1. The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will take place between 9-18 March.

2. They will feature up to 670 athletes, an increase on the 547 athletes who competed at Sochi 2014.

3. Athletes will compete in 80 medal events across six sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, snowboard and wheelchair curling.

4. The official mascot of the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games is “Bandabi” an Asiatic black bear found on South Korea’s mythology and closely associated with Korean culture and folklore.

5. Tickets for PyeongChang 2018 have gone on sale, with the official ticketing website being https://tickets.pyeongchang2018.com/

6. Alpine skiing and snowboard events will take place at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre while biathlon and cross-country competitions will be held at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre. Meanwhile, Para ice hockey will take place at the Gangneung Hockey Centre and the Gangneung Curling Centre will stage wheelchair curling.

7. The Republic of Korea will be the eighth country to have staged both the Summer and Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games and only the second in Asia after Nagano, Japan, in 1998.

8. As part of hosting the Games, the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee has launched “Actualising the Dream,” a project aimed at promoting Paralympic winter sports, raising awareness of Para sport and its athletes, and securing the social inclusion of people with impairment.

9. The first Paralympic Winter Games took place in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, between 21-28 February 1976, with 53 athletes from 16 countries competing in alpine and cross-country skiing.

10. The latest edition of the Paralympic Winter Games was held in Sochi, Russia, from 7-16 March 2014, and featured 547 athletes from 45 countries competing across five sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.