Daniel McNeal | January 16, 2018
The 2018 Winter Olympics will officially begin with opening ceremonies on Friday, February 9th in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Athletes from 90 nations around the world (including Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia and Singapore – marking their Winter Olympics debuts) will compete in 102 events across 15 sport disciplines. For three weeks, viewers from across the world will tune in and witness a truly global event.
While the history of the Olympics dates back to Ancient Greece, the modern Olympic Games was formed in 1894 by a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin with the formation of the International Olympic Committee, the IOC. Coubertin’s vision for the new Olympics combined sports with culture and he saw the modern Olympic Games as a way to share the histories and cultural aspects of people from different countries and to promote international peace and unity through sports. While the first modern Games of the Olympiad (the Summer Games) took place in Greece in 1896, the first Winter Olympics didn’t take place until 1924 in Chamonix, France. To reflect the global nature of the Olympics, it was determined by the IOC that the site of the modern Olympic Games was to be moved to a different city every four years. Interestingly enough, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games took place in the same year until 1992, when the IOC decided to place the Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, with the following Winter Olympics held in 1994.
This year’s Olympic Games do not come without controversy. Russia’s Olympic team has been banned from the 2018 Games, Russian government officials are not allowed to attend, and its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony as a result of an investigation that supported an extensive state-backed doping program. In addition, the Russian national anthem will not play. Russian athletes may petition for permission to compete in the Games, but the athletes who receive permission will have to compete under a neutral flag and will be referred to as “Olympic Athletes from Russia”.
Further adding to the controversy, the site of the Winter Games has heightened the strained relationship between South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea. Separated since 1953 by a strip of land called the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the two countries have had contentious relationships ever since, especially as the totalitarian state of North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapon capabilities. Despite the incredibly tense relationships between the two countries, news broke recently that North Korea would send a delegate to South Korea to participate in the Winter Olympics after two North Korean figure skaters qualified. This cooperation between the two Korean countries shows how the Olympics are used to bridge cultural and political tensions and serve as a platform to promote dialogue.
As global educators, the 2018 Winter Olympics offers an incredible opportunity to incorporate global learning into your classroom. For general information including what the 2018 Winter Olympics mascots and medals look like and new sporting events and schedules, check out CNN’s 2018 Winter Olympics: What You Need to Know feature. The IOC has developed a program for educators, Olympic Values Education Programme, which “is a practical set of learning resources designed to inspire and allow young people to experience life values such as excellence, respect and friendship” following the values of the Olympic Games of building a better world through sport.
The following additional sites offer online resources, including lesson plans and activities to incorporate the Winter Olympics into your classroom:
• Education World
• readwritethink.org
• Scholastic
• 15 Tech Tidbits to Bring the 2018 Winter Olympics into Your Classroom
• Science of the Olympic Winter Games, a series of videos from NBC
Do you have any plans to incorporate the 2018 Winter Olympics Games into your classroom?
We’d love to hear about what you’re doing in your classroom!