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| Location | Pyeongchang, South Korea |
|---|---|
| Motto | Passion. Connected. (Korean:하나된 열정.) |
| Nations | 49 |
| Athletes | 569 |
| Events | 80 in 6sports |
| Opening | 9 March 2018 |
| Closing | 18 March 2018 |
| Opened by | |
| Closed by | |
| Cauldron | |
| Stadium | Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium |
Winter Summer 2018 Winter Olympics | |
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| Part of a series on |
| 2018 Winter Paralympics |
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The2018 Winter Paralympics (Korean: 2018년 동계 패럴림픽;RR: 2018nyeon Donggye Paereollimpik), the 12thParalympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as thePyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an internationalmulti-sport event forathletes with disabilities governed by theInternational Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held inPyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.
569 athletes representing a record 49National 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.
As part of a formal agreement between theInternational Paralympic Committee and theInternational Olympic Committee first established in 2001,[1] the winner of the bid for the2018 Winter Olympics was also to host the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
Pyeongchang was elected as host during the123rd IOC Session inDurban 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 |
The opening ceremony was held on 9 March 2018 atPyeongchang Olympic Stadium, which was built specifically for the Winter Games.[4]
Competitions in the 2018 Winter Paralympics are being held in sixWinter 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).
Alpine skiing(30) (details)
Biathlon(18) (details)
Cross-country skiing(20) (details)
Para ice hockey(1) (details)
Snowboarding(10) (details).svg)
Wheelchair curling(1) (details)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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremonies | OC | CC | — | ||||||||
| 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 | ||
| Total | 0 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 80 |
| ParticipatingNational Paralympic Committees |
|---|
|
Alpensia Resort inDaegwallyeong-myeon will be the focus of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.[21]
* Host nation (Host nation (South Korea)[23])
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 13 | 15 | 8 | 36 |
| 2 |  Neutral Paralympic Athletes | 8 | 10 | 6 | 24 |
| 3 |  Canada | 8 | 4 | 16 | 28 |
| 4 | France | 7 | 8 | 5 | 20 |
| 5 | Germany | 7 | 8 | 4 | 19 |
| 6 |  Ukraine | 7 | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| 7 |  Slovakia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| 8 |  Belarus | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 9 |  Japan | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 10 |  Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 |  Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 |  Italy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 |  Great Britain | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 14 |  Norway | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 15 |  Australia | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 |  Finland | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
 New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| South Korea* | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| 19 |  Croatia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 |  China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Kazakhstan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 22 |  Austria | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 23 |  Spain | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 |  Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 |  Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (26 entries) | 80 | 80 | 81 | 241 | |
Television rights were sold in various countries and territories; the IPC partnered with the IOC's streaming serviceOlympic Channel for online streaming coverage of these Paralympics.[24]
In 2017, theEuropean 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, theCBC announced that it would broadcast over 600 hours of coverage inEnglish andFrench across its platforms, includingCBC Television,Ici Radio-Canada Télé, and sublicence partnersSportsnet One andAMI-tv.[28]
Channel 4 returned as the Games' rightsholder in the United Kingdom, planning over 100 hours of television coverage on Channel 4 and4seven.[29]
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]
The emblem for the 2018 Winter Paralympics was unveiled on 29 October 2013 at theNational Museum of Korea. It incorporates stylized renditions of thehangul letterㅊch (as also used in the Olympic emblem), which symbolizes part of the namePyeongchang 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]
The official mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 2 June 2016. The Paralympic mascot, Bandabi, is anAsian black bear that symbolizes "strong will and courage".[37]
To attract interest from residents and foreign tourists, theKorea Tourism Organization organizedSnow Festival, a "Hallyu festival", to serve as cultural programming for the Paralympics. ActorsJang Keun-suk andLee Dong-wook purchased 2,018 and 1,000 tickets for themselves and fans to attend meetups at para ice hockey games, while aK-pop concert featuringB1A4 andBtoB was also organized.[38][39][40][41][42]
Prior to the2018 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 theLiancourt Rocks (which are the subject of anongoing sovereignty dispute between South Korea and Japan) be included on theKorean Unification Flag during the Paralympics. South Korea declined this request, as they considered it contradictory to IPC recommendations against political gestures.[43]
IPC presidentAndrew 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]
Media related to2018 Winter Paralympics at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by | Winter Paralympics Pyeongchang XII Paralympic Winter Games (2018) | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
