The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, is an international multi-sport event that is taking place in Pyeongchang County, South Korea today and closing ceremonies will take place on February 25.
Pyeongchang was selected as the host city in July 2011, during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. It marks the first time that South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics, and the second Olympics held in the country since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
These Games will feature 102 events in fifteen sports disciplines, including the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the Winter Olympic program. 2,952 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees will compete, including the debut of Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.
The lead-up to these Games were threatened by the ongoing tensions between South Korea and neighboring North Korea, which led to several countries threatening to skip these Olympics if the security of their delegations were not guaranteed. In January 2018, the two countries agreed to march together during the opening ceremony, and to field a unified women's hockey team. These moves were met with opposition by South Korean critics, who believed that the country was using the Games as a platform for pro-North Korean sentiment.
Russia's participation in these Olympics has also been impacted by an ongoing doping scandal; the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee, and barred its athletes from participating under the Russian flag as well as banned most of its athletes outright. Athletes whitelisted by the IOC are allowed to compete under the title "Olympic Athletes from Russia".
Tajikistan does not participate at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Tajikistan competed at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Canada) and Sochi (Russia) respectively. Alpine skier Adnrei Drygin represented Tajikistan in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and alpine skier Alisher Qudratov represented Tajikistan in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Tajikistan’s team struggled with lack of funding and resources to qualify for the games.
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon was among the 65 heads of state that were present during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
