2024 Winter Youth Olympics

The 2024 Winter Youth Olympics (2024년 동계 청소년 올림픽), officially known as the IV Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Gangwon 2024 (강원 2024), were a winter multi-sport event, cultural festival, and fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympics held between 19 January and 1 February 2024 in Gangwon Province, South Korea.

That was the third time South Korea hosted the Olympic Games, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and the second time the country hosted the Winter games, after the 2018 Olympics. It was also the first Winter Youth Olympics held in Asia, as well as the third overall Youth Olympic Games in the continent, after the 2010 Olympics in Singapore and the 2014 Olympics in Nanjing, China (all Summer Games).

Bidding process
The IOC's Future Host Commission named Gangwon as its preferred candidate for the Games and entered into targeted dialogue with the region under the new Olympic bid process. Brașov, Romania; Granada, Spain; and Sofia, Bulgaria were the other interested parties. They took part in the continuous dialogue with the IOC and the Future Host Commission. Gangwon was officially awarded the Games at the 135th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 10 January 2020; all of the requirements were fulfilled to the satisfaction of the commission and the executive board. The events will be shared between Gangneung city and Pyeongchang County, which previously hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics. They were the first Winter Youth Olympics held outside of Europe.

Venues


Much of the venues of the 2018 Winter Olympics were used again; the snow events were held in the county of Pyeongchang, while the ice events were held in Gangneung.

If the circumstances were allowed (but they weren't), the city of Wonsan, North Korea would have been involved, and could have been the host of some alpine events.

Pyeongchang (mountain cluster)
The Alpensia Sports Park in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang, was the main focus of the games, like in 2018.
 * Yongpyong Dome – opening ceremony
 * Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre – ski jumping, Nordic combined
 * Alpensia Biathlon Centre – biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined
 * Alpensia Sliding Centre – luge, bobsleigh, skeleton

Additionally, a stand-alone venue was located in Hoengseong:
 * Welli Hilli Park – freestyle skiing (slopestyle, halfpipe, Big Air, skicross), snowboarding

Another stand-alone outdoor sports venue was located in neighboring Jeongseon County:
 * High1 Resort – alpine skiing, freestyle skiing (moguls), Youth Olympic Village

Gangneung (coastal cluster)
The Gangneung Olympic Park, in the neighborhood of Gyo-dong in Gangneung hosted the four indoor sports venues and the closing ceremony. This complex hosts the indoor venues build for the 2018 Winter Olympics and was used again:
 * Gangneung Hockey Centre – ice hockey, closing ceremony
 * Gangneung Curling Centre – curling
 * Gangneung Oval – speed skating, opening ceremony
 * Gangneung Ice Arena – short track speed skating, figure skating
 * Gangneung–Wonju National University – Olympic Village

Sports
For the first time in the history of any type of Olympic Games event, the gender parity rule was used. This means that the same number of events in the Olympic program were the same for men and women (34). The program for this edition featured 7 sports and 15 disciplines in a total of 81 events. The International Olympic Committee had decided in 2021, that for the first time, there would be no mixed NOCs events. The sporting program also received changes as mixed-gender relays were added in cross-country skiing and Nordic combined. Two 1,500m individual events in short-track speed skating were held for the first time. However, the number of events at the cross-country skiing were dropped from 7 to 5. •

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Participating National Olympic Committees
A total of 1,803 athletes from a total of 78 NOCs were expected to compete. Five nations made their Winter Youth Olympics debut: Algeria, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter two making their first ever Winter Olympic appearance. Albania was scheduled to be the 79th NOC to compete, but its only athlete withdrew from the competition.

Schedule

 * All dates are KST (UTC+9)



Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on 19 January 2024 at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, and the Yongpyong Dome in Pyeongchang. K-pop groups Hori7on, Lun8, and TripleS performed at the ceremony, along with rappers Ash Island, Hwasa, and Changmo. The cauldron was lit by freestyle skier Lee Jeong-min. A secondary digital flame was lit in Gangneung Olympic Park by a volunteer.

Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on the evening of 1 February 2024 outside of the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung. Rapper Lee Young-ji performed at the ceremony. The ceremony ended with the digital flame being extinguished.

Marketing
The organizing committee has announced many "ambassadors" to promote the games, including Olympians Eileen Gu, Choi Min-jeong, and Yuna Kim, in addition to singers such as Choi Min-ho from the Korean boy band Shinee.

The official song of the games is titled "We Go High".

Mascot
On 19 January 2023, the organizing committee revealed the mascot, named Moongcho (뭉초). It was designed by college student Soo-Yeon Park. The mascot is in shape of a snowball that was born from a snow fight between Soohorang and Bandabi, the mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Tickets
The organizing committee has announced that all events apart from the opening ceremony would be free to watch.

Torch relay
The torch relay started on October 3, 2023 in Greece at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the flame was lit. The flame reached Seoul, South Korea, on 8 October, with the Korean leg of the relay beginning that day. The relay ended on 19 January 2024 at the opening ceremony, as the cauldron was lit by freestyle skier Lee Jeong-min.