The 2018 Winter Olympics happened in Pyeongchang, South Korea as the 94th Olympic torch was lit.  The last Winter Olympics held on February 7-23, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. There were plenty of changes made in this year’s Winter Olympics as Russia would not be participating and Korea competed under one flag.

The 2014 Winter Olympics had over eighty-eight participating countries, and were hosted in Sochi, Russia. In 2018, the Olympics will have ninety-three participating countries. The 2014 Winter Olympics had over ninety-eight different events offered in the games. The 2018 Winter Olympics will have over fifteen sports with 102 total events. It will be exciting for South Korean to be hosting the Winter Olympics, however they will be competing as a united country with North Korean athletes. One major country that participated in 2014, that will not be participated in 2018 Winter Olympics is Russia. They are barred from the event for giving illegal substances to their athletes. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee(I.O.C) banned Russia for participating, and the country’s flag will not be displayed or seen in the opening and closing ceremonies. Russian officials will not be able to attend the event and some Russian athletes will be able to compete on their own terms and will be able to receive gold, silver and bronze metals.

The International Olympic Committee publish this official statement “to take the appropriate measures that should be strong enough to effectively sanction the existence of a systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia, as well as the legal responsibility of the various entities involved (i.e., including uniform, flag and anthem);while protecting the rights of the individual Russian clean athletes; and to take into consideration the multiple costs incurred by the two IOC DCs, in particular those linked to the investigations, the various expertise and the re-analysis of the samples of the Olympic Games.”

Now that the Winter Olympics are over, many great things have happen with the events and athletes doing amazing things. The United States’ Women’s Hockey team took home the Gold Medal for hockey and Men’s Curling team took home their 1st Gold medal in the curling event.

The United States’ medal count in 2018 was less than the 2014 games. The 2018 metal count 9 Gold, 8 Silver, and 6 Bronze and 2014 medal count 9 Gold, 7 Silver, and 12 Bronze.