Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and artificial ice allow more flexibility. Playing areas and fields consist of either snow or ice.
Gangneung is a municipal city in Gangwon province, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658. Gangneung is the economic centre of the Yeongdong region of Gangwon State. It has many tourist attractions, such as Jeongdongjin, a very popular area for watching the sunrise, and Gyeongpo Beach. The city hosted all the ice events for the 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as PyeongChang 2018, were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with the opening rounds for certain events held on 8 February, a day before the opening ceremony.
An ice rink is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ice skating during the 1800s marked a rise in the deliberate construction of ice rinks in numerous areas of the world.
Canada Olympic Park (COP), formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill, is a ski hill and multi-purpose training and competition facility located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, owned and operated by WinSport. It is currently used both for high performance athletic training and for recreational purposes by the general public. Canada Olympic Park was one of the venues for the 1988 Winter Olympics, being the primary venue for ski jumping, bobsleigh, and luge.
Max Bell Centre is an ice hockey arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in the community of Albert Park/Radisson Heights. It seats 2,121 for hockey, with a standing room capacity of over 3,000. It is named after Max Bell, a philanthropist who was a prominent businessman in Calgary.
The Hillcrest Centre is a community centre with ice hockey, curling rinks, and an aquatics facility, located at Hillcrest Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Construction started in March 2007; it hosted the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships prior to the Olympics. During the 2010 Olympics, it was named the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre and had a capacity of 6,000 people to host curling at the 2010 Winter Olympics; for the 2010 Paralympics, it hosted the Wheelchair Curling event.
Sochi Olympic Park is an Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia. It situated in the urban-type settlement of Sirius in Imeretinsky Valley, on the coast of the Black Sea. The Olympic Park houses the main Olympic Stadium used for the Games' ceremonies, and the venues that were used for indoor sports such as hockey, figure skating, curling, and speed skating. It also houses training facilities, the Olympic Village, the international broadcasting centre, and other amenities. The park was designed so that all of the venues would be accessible within walking distance of each other. The venues are situated around a water basin containing a fountain known as "The Waters of the Olympic Park".
The 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics venues are divided between two "clusters" located in and around Sochi, Russia.
The compactness of the venue locations for the 2018 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Paralympics, hosted by the county of Pyeongchang, South Korea was one of the winning arguments of the bid. The Games were gathered around two main venues: these were the mountain resort of Alpensia in Pyeongchang for the outdoor (snow) sports and the coastal city of Gangneung for the indoor (ice) sports There were also two stand-alone mountain venues.
Gangneung Gymnasium (Korean: 강릉실내종합체육관) is a multi-purpose indoor arena, located in the coastal city of Gangneung, South Korea. It was opened in 1998 for ice hockey at the 1999 Asian Winter Games. The seating capacity is 3,500. It is converted into ice surface when needed, while the underground floor is a permanent ice rink.
The Gangneung Oval is a speed skating oval in South Korea, which was used for the speed skating competitions at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The building of the oval was started in September 2013. The venue consists of a double track 400 metre rink and has a capacity of 8000 seats. It has three floors above ground and two underground levels. The original plan was to build the venue at the Gangneung Science Park, but because there was limited space due to the number of local businesses taking the opportunity to relocate, the oval was built in the Gangneung Olympic Park, in the vicinity of the Gangneung Ice Arena and Gangneung Hockey Centre.
Catholic Kwandong University Gymnasium is located on the grounds of Catholic Kwandong University in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea. During the 2018 Winter Olympics, it is one of the two venues for Ice Hockey. The official name as the Winter Olympic venue is Kwandong Hockey Centre.
Almaty 2022 was an unsuccessful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics by the city of Almaty and the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The IOC selected the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 31, 2015, in which Beijing won. Under the slogan “Keeping it Real,” Almaty had emphasized their traditional winter setting with tall mountains and plenty of natural snow coverage as well as compactness — most venues are within half an hour’s travel through Alpine scenery. Almaty was the only contender to have never hosted the Olympics before. Almaty previously hosted the 2017 Winter Universiade.
Lviv 2022 was a bid by the city of Lviv and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Lviv withdrew its bid on 30 June 2014. The IOC ultimately selected Beijing as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 31 July 2015.
The Beijing Olympic Games Bidding Committee unveiled the venue layout plan for the 2022 Winter Olympics on 20 February 2014; the plan was include the five ice events at the Olympic Green, the Capital Indoor Stadium and the Wukesong Sports Center, which were some of the main venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Competitions for luge, bobsleigh and alpine skiing were held at the Xiaohaituo Mountain Area, in a northwest of Beijing, 90 kilometres away from the city centre of Beijing and 17.5 kilometres away from the town of Yanqing. All other skiing events were held in Taizicheng Area in Chongli District, Zhangjiakou, 220 km (140 mi) from downtown Beijing and 130 km (81 mi) away from Xiaohaituo Mountain Area.
Iceworld Boondall is an ice sports and public ice skating centre, in Boondall located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the Brisbane CBD in Queensland, Australia. It hosts a number of major ice hockey games, including Australian Women's Ice Hockey League games. The venue offers a wide variety of activities including ice skating lessons, birthday parties, figure skating, speed skating, curling, synchronised skating, public skating sessions, and it is also the home venue of the Brisbane Goannas. The venue has been operating in Brisbane for over 30 years. Iceworld Boondall is also a host venue for the Duke Trophy, an annual inter-state short track speed skating competition in Australia.
The 2024 Winter Youth Olympics, officially known as the IV Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Gangwon 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.
The 2026 Winter Olympics and 2026 Winter Paralympics, hosted by the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, will make use of 25 event venues across four clusters in northern Italy. These consist of nineteen existing venues, two newly-built venues, and four temporary venues. Over 90% of the venues consist of ones that already exist or temporary ones. The Games are reportedly set to be the most geographically widespread in Olympic history; the use of existing venues means the events will be held in an area spanning more than 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi).
