The 2024 Winter Youth Olympics (Korean: 2024년 동계 청소년 올림픽, romanized: 2024nyeon Donggye Cheongsonyeon Ollimpik), officially known as the IV Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Gangwon 2024 (Korean: 강원 2024), were a wintermulti-sport event, cultural festival, and fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympics held between 19 January and 1 February 2024 in Gangwon Province, South Korea.
The IOC's Future Host Commission named Gangwon as its preferred candidate for the Games and entered into targeted dialogue with the region under the new Olympic bid process. Brașov, Romania; Granada, Spain; and Sofia, Bulgaria were the other interested parties. They took part in the continuous dialogue with the IOC and the Future Host Commission.[2] Gangwon was officially awarded the Games at the 135th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 10 January 2020;[3] all of the requirements were fulfilled to the satisfaction of the commission and the executive board.[4] The events will be shared between Gangneung city and Pyeongchang County, which previously hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics. They will be the first Winter Youth Olympics held outside of Europe.
The Gangneung Olympic Park, in the neighborhood of Gyo-dong in Gangneung will host the four indoor sports venues and the closing ceremony. This complex hosts the indoor venues build for the 2018 Winter Olympics and will be used again:
For the first time in the history of any type of Olympic Games event, the gender parity rule has been used. This means that the same number of events in the Olympic program will be the same for men and women (34). The program for this edition will feature 7 sports and 15 disciplines in a total of 81 events. The International Olympic Committee has decided in 2021, that for the first time, there will be no mixed NOCs events. The sporting program also received changes as mixed-gender relays were added in cross-country skiing and Nordic combined. Two 1,500m individual events in short-track speed skating will be held for the first time. However, the number of events at the cross-country skiing were dropped from 7 to 5.[8][9]
A total of 1,803 athletes from a total of 78 NOCs were expected to compete.[10][11] Five nations made their Winter Youth Olympics debut: Algeria, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter two making their first ever Winter Olympic appearance.[12] Albania was scheduled to be the 79th NOC to compete, but its only athlete withdrew from the competition.
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on 19 January 2024 at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, and the Yongpyong Dome in Pyeongchang. K-pop groups Hori7on, Lun8, and TripleS performed at the ceremony, along with rappers Ash Island, Hwasa, and Changmo. The cauldron was lit by freestyle skier Lee Jeong-min. A secondary digital flame was lit in Gangneung Olympic Park by a volunteer.[14][15]
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on the evening of 1 February 2024 outside of the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung. Rapper Lee Young-ji performed at the ceremony. The ceremony ended with the digital flame being extinguished.[16]
The official song of the games is titled "We Go High".[19][20]
Mascot
On 19 January 2023, the organizing committee revealed the mascot, named Moongcho (뭉초). It was designed by college student Soo-Yeon Park. The mascot is in shape of a snowball that was born from a snow fight between Soohorang and Bandabi, the mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.[21][22]
Tickets
The organizing committee has announced that all events apart from the opening ceremony would be free to watch.[23]
Torch relay
The torch relay started on 3 October 2023 in Greece at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the flame was lit. The flame reached Seoul, South Korea, on 8 October, with the Korean leg of the relay beginning that day.[24][25] The relay ended on 19 January 2024 at the opening ceremony, as the cauldron was lit by freestyle skier Lee Jeong-min.[14]
