The Winter Games are scheduled to be held in the host city of PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, and two other nearby cities — Gangneung and Jeongseon — from Feb. 9-25 next year. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – The torch for the first Winter Olympics to take place in South Korea will be lit in Greece next Tuesday, the culture and sports ministry said Friday.
The flame-lighting ceremony will take place in Ancient Olympia, home of the ancient Games in Greece, on Oct. 24 (local time) attended by President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach; President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos and Mayor of Ancient Olympia Euthumios Kotzas, said the ministry.
South Korea will be represented by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, Roh Tae-kang, a vice culture-sports minister, and Lee Hee-beom who leads the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG), Park Ji-sung, a former national football team player, and Chun Lee-kyung, a national short track team coach.
After the lighting ceremony, the first torchbearer, Greek cross country ski champion Apostolos Angelis, will hand over the flame to Park.
The torch will make a week-long tour of Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympics, before arriving in South Korea on Nov. 1, when the countdown to PyeongChang will reach 100 days. The relay will have 7,500 runners and cover 2,018 kilometers, a nod to the year in which the Olympics will take place, and travel through nine provinces, eight major cities, and 151 counties and districts under the slogan “Let Everyone Shine.”
The Winter Games are scheduled to be held in the host city of PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, and two other nearby cities — Gangneung and Jeongseon — from Feb. 9-25 next year.
(Yonhap)
