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The media gets a close look at the facade of the Gangneung Ice Arena during construction‘s final days.


A hotel in Alpensia is clustered with hotels and other winter sports facilities in South Korea’s mountain resort of PyeongChang.


rean city will host an Olympic Winter Games. Along with PyeongChang, the nearby coastal city of Gangneung (population 230,000) will host many competitions, including figure skat- ing.


Tere will be 13 competition venues, six of


which will be newly constructed for the Games. Te Gangneung Olympic Park is a cluster of four venues, and includes the Gangneung Ice Arena, which will host figure skating and short- track speedskating events. Te facility will seat 12,000 fans, house two separate rinks (the prac- tice rink is below the main rink) and feature an environmentally friendly ice-cooling system. Tere are two athlete villages, one in the


mountains of PyeongChang and one in Gang- neung, where U.S. figure skaters will stay. Te PyeongChang Mountain Cluster and the Gang- neung Coastal Cluster are within 30 minutes of each other. “Te village isn’t far from the competition


venue,” said Mitch Moyer, U.S. Figure Skating senior director of athlete high performance. “Te footprint of the village is going to be much smaller than in Sochi because there will be 20-story condos versus three-, four- and five-sto- ry housing spread out over a larger area, so it won’t be as difficult to get everywhere.” One of the big infrastructure additions


for these Olympic Games is a high-speed rail (bullet train), which can carry people from the Incheon International Airport near the capi- tal of Seoul on the west side of South Korea to PyeongChang and Gangneung on the east side in about two hours. “You might have people staying in Seoul


coming to the Olympics,” Moyer said. “Te biggest problem they have is they don’t have enough housing to accommodate everybody. So you could hop on a train at 6 a.m. and get there at 8 a.m., go to the events and then hop back on the train later in the day. You might see peo-


24 FEBRUARY 2017


ple doing that because the housing prices will be more attractive in Seoul than in PyeongChang and Gangneung.”


PLENTY TO SEE AND DO


IN PYEONGCHANG PyeongChang is a popular travel destina-


tion for mountain hikers and winter sports en- thusiasts. Te city has many outdoor recreation areas, including the Alpensia Resort, a popular ski and snowboarding destination that is open year-round. It also includes restaurants, a game center and a shopping area. Sports are a popular pastime throughout


Korea. Yu-Na Kim’s Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games helped draw more Korean fans and athletes to figure skating. For many years, baseball and soccer have been the most popular sports in the country. Gangneung is home to Gangwon Football Club of the K League, and the Gangwon Football Club of the National League — these are soccer teams. Sunrises are an important part of Korean


culture, and many tourists flock to prime lo- cations to view them during their visit. Jeong- dongjin Beach, which is about 20 minutes from Gangneung, is one of the most visited places to watch sunrises in the country. New Year’s Day is a particularly popular day for visitors. Many people also opt to check out the nearby Sun Cruise Resort & Yacht, a hotel designed to look like a cruise ship in Jeongdongjin Beach. Buddhism is among the country’s dom-


inant religions, and many temples feature his- toric artwork, sculptures and beautiful gardens. Te Sangwonsa Temple in PyeongChang is a popular religious landmark. Visitors must hike a demanding trail in order to reach the temple. Gangneung is home to many temples too, including the Naksansa Temple and the Gyeongpodae Pavilion. Te Pavilion is near sce-


JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


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