Yuna Kim officially Opens the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang got underway with an extravagant ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The highlight of the ceremony was when Yuna Kim, a South Korean Olympic figure skater lit the Olympic flame.

The ceremony started with an interactive video display that featured children walking through a landscape covered in snow and finding a world where all live in harmony and peace. The video closed with a hologram of a tiger, which is an important part of Korean culture.

As the opening ceremony continued, it saw the children onstage being joined by an animatronic tiger followed by the South Korean national anthem being sung. In a surprising move, both South and North Korea are appearing in the games under a single flag, and the anthem was the first opportunity for South Korea to show their independence.

As the children moved on, the parade of nations got underway. As is tradition, it was Greece who first entered the Olympic stadium. This nod is given to Greece as a measure of respect due to the Olympics originating from the country during the Roman Empire.

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This saw a number of highlights that included Pita Taufatofua carrying the Greece national flag. Taufatofua generated a buzz in Rio when he carried the flag shirtless. In Rio, Taufatofua was competing in Taekwondo, but for the Winter Games, he will represent Greece in cross-country skiing.

Team Canada has its biggest contingent in a Winter Olympic games with eighty-seven coaches and 225 athletes. They entered the Pyeongchang stadium just after 7 pm, dressed in red and white, the showcased the maple leaf with Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue leading the procession. Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue are the first skates tasked with the responsibility and honour of carrying the flag since Lillehammer, in 1994 when that was the job of Kurt Browning.

There were 91 countries and 2,900 athletes that made their way into the stadium during the opening ceremony. This was followed by speeches from various dignitaries including Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.

Bach showed gratitude to both Korean delegations for coming together and working hand-in-hand. He stated that in doing so, they sent a powerful message of peace to the rest of the world. The final activities of the night further reinforced that when two players from the unified women’s hockey team carried the Olympic torch on its final journey climbing the stairs in unison and handing the torch to Yuna Kim, who then light the Olympic flame and officially opening the 2018 Winter Games.

With the Olympics now in high gear, Olympics sportsbetting sites are ramping up and listing the various Olympic sports that punters can place bets on as they watch the games live or at the venues in Korea. As so many will be loyal to their country, it is the perfect time to show solidarity and come together to send harmony and peace to those competing in events over the next few weeks.