February is quickly approaching meaning the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang is about to start. Athletes from all around the world are coming together in South Korea hoping to win the chance to earn a medal in the winter sports. This year it is predicted that Germany, Norway, and Canada are expected to finish out the highest. South Korea’s neighboring country, North Korea, has come out with the exciting news that they will be sending athletes to compete after not participating for 8 years. The situation may be a little sticky considering that the two countries are still at war. It may even be difficult physically getting to South Korea because of the heavily guarded entrances. Their two athletes that will be participating, Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik, will be competing as a pair in figure skating. North Korea has done exceedingly well in the Summer Olympics, but the Winter Olympics are a different story. They have only won 3 medals in the time that they have participated.

Another country that is being surrounded by controversy is Russia. Russia has been banned from the 2018 Olympics because of the doping scandal. Athletes have been found to be doping in order to enhance their skills. An athletes from Russia may compete but under certain circumstances. They must compete independently under a neutral flag, and they have to prove that they are clean.

Regarding our very own country, the United States, we have our first openly gay man to qualify for the Winter Olympics. His name is Adam Rippon and he will be competing in figure skating. We are sending over 200 athletes across 15 sports to compete in the Olympics. Lindsey Vonn, gold medalist in downhill in 2010, announced that she will be representing the United States this year after her knee injury. In 2014, she got a knee injury which inhibited her from going to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Another one of the United States team to look out for is Shaun White. He won the gold medal in 2010 and in 2014 for snowboarding. He recently, October, had a terrible face injury as he was practicing snowboarding in New Zealand. White ended up needing 62 stitches in order to fix the damage that was done. There are many other athletes from the United States that you should keep an eye out for other than these two. Everything is getting quickly settled in order to be ready for the 2018 Winter Olympics.