The Olympics is an international, multi-sport competition that takes place every four years. There are two different olympics; the summer olympics and the winter olympics. They both rotate on a four year schedule, which allows Olympic competition every two years.
The Olympic Games began back in 776 BC in ancient Greece and were a social and cultural event that began as a religious festival, according to the Olympic Game website. The games went on for about 12 centuries before other nations joined and it expanded widely. The first official Olympic Games were competed on April 6, 1896 and hosted in Athens, Greece. There were 241 participating athletes and 14 nations that competed.
The 2018 winter Olympics started on Feb. 7 and will go until Feb. 25, which is the day for the closing ceremony. There are 94 countries participating in this years Olympics and a total of 243 Americans competing in the games, according to the Olympic Games website. Athletes can choose to register independently as an individual, if they don’t want to represent their country.
The 2018 winter Olympics are being hosted in PyeongChang, South Korea. There are 15 different winter sports being competed including alpine skiing, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating and more.
There are three types of medals that athletes can be awarded with. The highest ranked medal is gold with silver being second and third bronze. Athletes are able to win one per event.
