Friday, February 9, marked the beginning of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea with the opening ceremonies happening at 8pm local time, 5 a.m. CST.

There will be 2,952 athletes from 92 countries participating. Many different athletes will be present, but 48 athletes from Russia will not be allowed to participate due to the recent doping scandals.

There will be a large variety of different events apart of the Olympics. In total, there will be 102 medals for 15 different disciplines. These disciplines include alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

Hope McWright, a junior, when asked about her favorite event of the winter Olympics, said, “figure skating.”

Will Whitfield, a junior, said, “My favorite event would have to be hockey.”

Xavier Myers, on the other hand, said, “I think I like curling the most.”

Another topic up for debate about the Winter Olympics is that NHL players are not allowed to participate. This is a big deal, especially for Americans and Canadians, whose best players all play in the NHL.

Ethan Vick, a sophomore, said, “I think it’s stupid that NHL players aren’t allowed to participate in the Olympics. I don’t think it would be unfair because it would just be hockey players against other hockey players.”

Another interesting thing relating to these Olympics is that they are being held in South Korea, just south of one of the most worrisome countries in the world right now, North Korea. This hasn’t gone without consequence either, because ticket sales have fallen short, reaching only 61% of all available tickets.

Something interesting to note, however, is that athletes from North Korea are still participating. During the opening ceremony, athletes from both countries marched together, all holding a white flag with an image of the Korean Peninsula on it. This was done to promote the idea that peace will one day come for the two countries and maybe even lead to an eventual reunification of the Korean Peninsula.