IT’S NOT OVER YET

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games ended only a few days and the 2018 Paralympic Games are to follow. The games will start in PyeongChang on Friday, March 9th and end on Sunday, March 18th. There are a total of 670 athletes from 80 different countries. While there is not as many sports as in the Olympics, the paralympics will consist of para alpine skiing, para nordic, para ice hockey, para snowboarding, and wheelchair curling. The para nordic events will include para biathlon and para cross-country skiing. The para alpine events will be the same as the Olympics: downhill, slalom, giant slalom, and super-G. The different classifications for men and women will consist of visually impaired, sitting and standing. The para ice hockey teams will consist of six people on sleds with two hockey sticks. Wheelchair curling is a little different from normal curling. It consists of co-ed teams that will play six ends. They do not sweep the stone. Instead, they throw the stone using either their hands or stick and try to get it as close to the center of the target as possible. The medals for the games are similar to the Olympic medals, but will feature the Paralympic logo and carved in braille will be the phrase, “PyeongChang 2018.” The mascot for the Paralympic games is Bandabi. He is an Asiatic black bear closely tied to South Korean culture, mythology, and folklore. Personally, I’m excited to see Amy Purdy compete in the games. She is a paralympic snowboarder on Team USA that lost both of her legs due to bacterial meningitis. If you are missing the Olympics, be sure to catch even more action during the 2018 Paralympic Games.