PyeongChang Tour: Blueprint of the Venues

As of July 3rd 2015, the day I have had the unique opportunity to visit the official sites for 2018 Winter Olympics, the majority of the venues were still under construction. However, an outline of where the venues will be was faintly visible.

PyeongChang, a county located in Gangwon province on the north-east side of South Korea, will be the main arena for The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. As of now it takes roughly three hours to get there from Seoul by car. However, Korail, the national railroad operator in South Korea, is building a railroad connecting Incheon with PyeongChang. When this is complete, passengers taking the high-speed rail system KTX (Korea Train Express) from Incheon International Airport will take less than two hours to get to PyeongChang.

The PyeongChang 2018 venues are divided into two clusters based on the sports disciplines. PyeongChang Mountain Cluster is for Snow Sports and Sliding Sports, whereas Gangneung Coastal Cluster is for Ice Sports. The two clusters will only be 30 minutes apart from one another, highlighting the compactness of the venues unseen in previous Winter Games.

PyeongChang Mountain Cluster

As the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster is the centre of the Winter Games, the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium will be built in the Olympic Plaza for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Various convention centres, as well as media village, will be located within the Mountain Olympic & Paralympic Village.

Besides the Olympic Stadium and the convention centre, PyeongChang Mountain Cluster primarily hosts two categories of sports: Snow Sports and Sliding Sports. For Snow Sports, we have Skiing and Biathlon, whereas Sliding Sports include Bobsleigh and Luge.

The Alpensia Sports Park holds primarily five venues for the Winter Sports: Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre, Alpensia Biathlon Centre, Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre, Yongpyong Alpine Centre and Alpensia Sliding Centre.

The disciplines within each venue are as follows:

Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre: Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined

Alpensia Biathlon Centre: Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing

Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre: Cross-Country Skiing and Nordic Combined

Yongpyong Alpine Centre: Alpine Skiing and Para-Snowboard

Alpensia Sliding Centre: Bobsleigh, Skeleton and Luge

Currently, the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre is complete and the observatory is open for people to visit. However, as the actual Ski Jumping event requires minimum wind affecting the jumping ramp and the athletes, the current plan is to form a windshield behind the starting position to reduce air turbulence.

Alpensia Biathlon Centre and Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre are also complete and in careful maintenance.

Yongpyong Alpine Centre is further away from most of the venues in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster due to the size and altitude needed for Alpine Skiing and Para-Snowboard.

Last but not least the Alpensia Sliding Centre. The venue is still under construction and will be built adjacent to the Alpensia Sports Park.

Besides the venues within the Alpensia Sports Park, there are also two stand-alone venues: Bokwang Snow Park and Jeongseon Alpine Centre.

The disciplines within each venue are as follows:

Bokwang Snow Park: Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard

Jeongseon Alpine Centre: Alpine Skiing

Gangneung Coastal Cluster

Gangneung Coastal Cluster, on the east coast of South Korea, is centred on Ice Sports such as Skating, Ice Hockey and Curling. Gangneung Coastal Cluster has five venues in the Gangneung Olympic Park. As of 2015, four of the five venues are still under construction, and the one venue that is present needs renovation. The five venues are Gangneung Hockey Centre, Kwangdong Hockey Centre, Gangneung Oval, Gangneung Ice Arena, and Gangneung Curling Centre.

The disciplines within each venue are as follows:

Gangneung Hockey Centre: Ice Hockey and Ice Sledge Hockey

Kwangdong Hockey Centre: Ice Hockey

Gangneung Oval: Speed Skating

Gangneung Ice Arena: Short Track Speed Skating and Figure Skating

Gangneung Curling Centre: Curling and Wheelchair Curling

Ice Hockey will be carried out in two different venues, Gangneung Hockey Centre and Kwangdong Hockey Centre. Gangneung Hockey Centre will be the main Ice Hockey venue for Men’s tournaments, as well as medal matches for both Men’s and Women’s tournaments. Kwangdong Hockey Centre is being built inside Catholic Kwangdong University and will be the main arena for Women’s Ice Hockey tournaments.

Gangneung Oval is the main venue for Speed Skating events. The oval is the biggest venue within Gangneung Coastal Cluster due to the large tracks needed for Speed Skating. The venue will have the capacity of 8000 seats.

Next to the Gangneung Oval, the Gangneung Ice Arena will be built for Short Track Speed Skating and Figure Skating Events. After the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is complete, the venue will be used for recreational purposes.

Last but not least we have the Gangneung Curling Centre. As of 2015, Gangneung Curling Centre is the only venue in the Gangneung Coastal Cluster that is physically present at the site. The venue was opened in 1998 and was used for various tournaments. The venue will undergo renovations to enlarge the seating capacity as well as to improve the facility.

These are the twelve official venues for The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Even though the venues are not ready yet, I hope this article gives you a basic idea of the venues, as well as the compactness and ease of transportation that sets apart PyeongChang from the other cities that hosted the previous Winter Games.

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This article was written by an official college student reporter of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games, WINNERS.
Some contents might be different from the official position of the Organizing Committee.