I am ready for the Winter Olympics to start. For this Olympiad they are at PyeongChang, South Korea.

PyeongChang is in an area of South Korea that I haven’t visited. I have been in many of the major cities of South Korea but have not been in the Northeast part of the country. During one of my trips I made a tour of hospitals in Seoul, Daejeo, Gwangju, Busan and Daegu. I have also been at the airport in Incheon many times, sometimes while just making connections on the way to Singapore or Thailand.

PyeongChang is a county in Ganwong Province. The population of the entire county is only about 45,000. This would be like having the Winter Olympics in Twin Falls, Idaho which has about the same population. However, the ice events will be held in Gangneung which has a population of about 215,000. This is about the same population as Boise, Idaho.

I am glad to be home this year during the Winter Olympics. I will hopefully be able to watch some of my favorite events like Curling. There are many winter events that we only see when the Olympics roll around, but some like Curling are starting to be shown on TV more often.

Others like biathlon, speed skating and ski jumping are rarely seen in the US.

I have not been home for a full Winter Olympics for quite some time. See: Winter Olympic Thoughts

In 2014 I was in Sydney, Australia teaching a course while the Olympics were being contested in Sochi.

In 2010 when the Winter Olympics were in Vancouver I was cruising in Antarctica.

In 2006 I was very close to where the Winter Olympics were being held in Turin. I was in Milan teaching a course and saw some of the athletes who had come for some sightseeing.

In 2002 when the Winter Olympics were in Salt Lake City I was down in Mexico City teaching a class.

In 1998 when the Winter Olympics were in Nagano, Japan I was actually home in the Midwest. I was just then starting to transition from field service to training and would have only been traveling close to home.

I need to look at a schedule to see when my favorite events will be contested. Then I can plan my viewing 🙂

I will probably be thinking of some of my trips to South Korea during the next weeks so don’t be surprised if you see some posts about South Korea.

What are some of your favorite Winter Olympic sports?

Steven