HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

It’s friggin’ cold. According to Accuweather, PyeongChang is the Earth’s coldest location for its latitude. The popular South Korea ski destination sits 700 meters above sea level, contributing to frigid conditions that have reportedly reached single digits below zero Fahrenheit this week. At a recent rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony, spectators walked out of the uncovered stadium due to viciously cold Siberian winds.

Russian athletes will participate. With Russia banned from this year’s Winter Olympics because of past use of performance-enhancing drugs, the International Olympic Committee will refuse to attribute any accomplishments to Russia, meaning the country’s medal count will be zero. But there will still be more than 165 Russian athletes — donning neutral uniforms — competing.

And North Korea? Ticket sales are short of the pace set at previous games, likely because of Russia’s expulsion and the tension between North Korea, South Korea and the United States. South Korea is doing its best to calm prospective visitors, both uniting with North Korea for the Opening Ceremony march and competing alongside North Korea in women’s ice hockey.

It’s a new day. There will be plenty of new faces at PyeongChang. The Nigerian women’s bobsled team is the sport’s first team from Africa to ever qualify for an Olympics. And, for the first time ever, Mexico qualified more than one athlete for the games. Team USA will have plenty of familiar faces, from Alpine skiers Ted Ligety and Lindsey Vonn to hockey star Hilary Knight, but also a new crop of young athletes appear ready to break out. Born in Ghana, 17-year-old Maame Biney is an exciting speedskater to watch. Another 17-year-old, Winter X Games star Chloe Kim, will look to capture her first Olympic medal too.

There’s more than one way to train. Just ask top U.S. skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, who’ve been using virtual reality goggles for the past year to preview 360-degree views of the slopes they’ll hit on the Taebaek Mountains. Another part of the U.S. skiing training regimen: headsets that stimulate the brain and boost strength, endurance and muscle memory, as well as strobe glasses that intermittently flicker to enhance vision processing and attention.

WHAT TO READ

The Physics of One of the Craziest Big Air Snowboard Tricks Ever, by Sophia Chen in Wired
"The dizzying snowboarding trick … involves catapulting off a ramp into four off-axis flips (called corks) and five full spins. Only four people have ever completed the 1,800-degree stunt."

Olympic Star Akito Watabe’s Guide to Nordic Combines, by Akito Watabe at Olympic.org
"I use Zen to keep my mind calm. I meditate when I need it, like before leaving the hotel for competition. It allows me to accept everything. What has happened and what will happen. It allows me let go and focus on what I have to do."

WHAT TO WATCH