With 102 events, 92 nations and 15 sporting activities, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games have begun. There are 13 venues that spread across two counties including PyeongChang and Jeongseon in South Korea. The Opening Ceremony took place on Feb. 9 and gave everyone a look at the thousands of athletes participating in the Games. Feb. 9 consisted with qualifying for certain events with no medals being given. Then, Feb. 10 was the first day medals were awarded.

The very first gold medal of the 2018 Olympics was won by Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. Kalla was competing in the women’s 15m cross country skiathlon. Marit Bjørgen of Norway placed second and received a silver medal. Along with placing second, Bjørgen made history by being the most decorated female Winter Olympian of all time. She has six gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal.

Team USA got their first medal on Saturday in the men’s snowboarding slopestyle. Snowboarder Red Gerard won the first US gold medal of the 2018 Olympics. Gerard is a Cleveland, Ohio native and is at the young age only of 17 years old. He is the only American snowboarder to advance to the slopestyle finals. Gerard is the third youngest man and second youngest American man to win a Winter Olympic gold medal. The youngest American man was in 1928 by Billy Fiske.

There are many young people who dream about qualifying for the Olympics. Some make it in either summer or winter games. Going to the Olympics is one of the highest accomplishments for some athletes.

“I would like to go to the Olympics and participate in one of the sports that I currently participate in. I think it would be really cool to be able to compete in the Olympics,” sophomore Shyann Komara said.

Pittsburgh has their very own Olympian competing in one of the sports for this years Olympics. Pittsburgh native John-Henry Krueger is apart of the short track speedskating. Krueger won the men’s 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and overall at the US Olympic Team Trials.

The sister of Pittsburgh Penguins’ Phil Kessel, Amanda Kessel, is a part of the women’s ice hockey team for the U.S. She won a silver medal along with her team in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. On Feb. 11, her team won three to one against Finland.

After five consecutive Olympic runs, NHL players will not be competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Many of the clubs were opposed of disrupting the 2017-18 NHL season. Many of the players have been competing since the 1998 Winter Olympics. The number one reason for not participating in the Olympics is because of the 17 day break in the middle of the season.

Feb. 10 was a very eventful day for people competing in the Olympics. Feb. 10 was the first day medals were given to competitors. Gold medals went to Germany twice, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden and the US. Due to extreme winds up to 50 mph, the men’s downhill alpine race was postponed and rescheduled for Feb. 15.

The Winter Olympics will last from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25. So far, the U.S. has won seven medals. There are still many days for all of the countries to win more medals. The U.S. has the second leading number of medals and the athletes are looking to add more. The Winter Olympics come around every four years, so don’t miss out.