U.S. Olympic Committee Marks One-Year Countdown To Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 With Global Celebration On Feb. 8

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States Olympic Committee will join fans around the world in marking the one-year countdown to the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 this week with several promotional activities and athlete appearances. The U.S. celebrations will include an athlete publicity tour and school visits in New York City, and community outreach events in Seoul and PyeongChang, South Korea.

Competition will begin at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 on Feb. 8, with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 9 and the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 25. Over 17 days, 2,800 athletes from 95 countries will compete in 15 sport disciplines, for a total of 102 medal events. New for 2018 is the addition of big air in snowboarding, mass start in speedskating, mixed doubles in curling and a team event in alpine skiing. The 2018 Games mark the second time South Korea will welcome the world’s greatest athletes, having previously hosted the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988.

Less than two weeks after the close of the Olympics, the Paralympic Winter Games will take place from March 9-18. The Games will feature five sports with 80 medal events, including snowboarding’s expansion from two to 10 medal events.

To mark the occasion of one-year out from PyeongChang, the USOC is taking part in a number of promotional activities:

USOC partner and Olympic Winter Games broadcaster NBCUniversal will celebrate the one-year countdown with wide-ranging promotional and editorial initiatives that span the company’s portfolio of broadcast, cable, digital, regional, local, and radio assets. Activities include a promotional “road block” at 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 8, featuring a 60-second Olympic announcement across most of NBCUniversal’s broadcast and cable networks, including NBC, NBCSN, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, USA and many others. Additionally, NBCUniversal will be highlighting the milestone with increased social presence, digital promotion and affiliate activation.

Please find expanded USOC promotional program information below.

Media Teleconference & One-Year Out Preview
The USOC will preview the milestone with a media teleconference today, Feb. 6, at noon MT featuring Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing), two-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled), three-time Paralympic medalist Steve Cash (sled hockey) and Alan Ashley, USOC chief of sport performance. The USOC will also launch its PyeongChang microsite – TeamUSA.org/2018Olympics – which will include comprehensive previews of all sports, including storylines, athletes to watch, key dates, and qualification and selection procedures.

Olympic celebration on TODAY
NBC’s TODAY will feature U.S. Olympians and hopefuls on Feb. 8, complete with a ski and snowboard park in Rockefeller Plaza. Two-time Olympic champion Shaun White (snowboarding), and 2014 Olympic champion freestyle skiers Maddie Bowman and Joss Christensen will be joined by local youth athletes in demonstrating tricks on the rails and jumps. Olympic bronze medalist Gracie Gold (figure skating) will take to the ice for a demo, and the celebration will also include taped spots from PyeongChang, Olympic updates and more.

Athlete publicity tour in New York City
A group of Team USA athletes will participate in a Team for Tomorrow school visit, including two-time Olympic hockey medalists Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, and Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, and Paralympic sled hockey champions Nikko Landeros and Rico Roman. The athletes will visit an elementary school in Harlem that serves underprivileged kids to share the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games with its 250 students, and to make a donation of sports equipment packages to the school.

Athletes will also take part in appearances and interviews throughout New York City Feb. 7-9, including ringing the NASDAQ Closing Bell, appearing at a New York Knicks game, visiting the Snapchat Manhattan offices and numerous media interviews.

Athlete community outreach activities in Seoul and PyeongChang
As a part of the USOC’s PyeongChang goodwill campaign and in collaboration with the U.S. State Department, a number of notable U.S. athletes and 2018 hopefuls will participate in envoy programs and community outreach activities in Seoul and PyeongChang around the one-year out milestone.

Snowboarding halfpipe sensation Chloe Kim will represent Team USA as a U.S. Department of State Sports Envoy in Seoul on Feb. 8 and PyeongChang on Feb. 10. In Seoul, she’ll meet with Korean university students to talk about overcoming challenges, with Korean Olympic athletes at the Korea National Olympic Training Center to share goodwill, and with select Korean athletes and business representatives at a dinner in her honor hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. In PyeongChang, she’ll host a snowboarding workshop with youth from the local community, and she’ll be a special guest of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Games at a model UN event with more than 300 high school student participants from across South Korea. Kim won consecutive gold medals at the 2016 Winter X Games and the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lillehammer 2016, and is a first-generation Korean-American.

On Feb. 2, four-time Olympian KC Boutiette (speedskating) held an on-ice clinic for more than 30 local skaters in Gangneung, where ice sports will take place at the 2018 Games. On Feb. 13, four U.S. athletes will participate in an Embassy Youth Forum with 60 local university students at the American Center in Seoul: three-time Olympic medalist Kelly Clark (snowboarding), Olympian Annalisa Drew (freestyle skiing), Olympian Arielle Gold (snowboarding) and Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan (freestyle skiing). And Feb. 20-21, two-time world championship medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani (figure skating) will host a skating clinic in Seoul and participate in traditional Korean experiences in goodwill exchanges with local hosts.

All of the athletes will be in South Korea for official test events of the 2018 Games. And all eight will be representing Team USA as they share their support for the organizing committee and the people of South Korea, and their excitement for the 2018 Games.

One year out takeover of TeamUSA.org
TeamUSA.org will be the epicenter for the latest on Team USA’s road to the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 beginning on Feb. 8, including the following content:

Social activations across the Team USA platforms
Team USA social channels will celebrate the one-year out milestone with new content and a focus on introducing fans of Team USA to PyeongChang 2018 hopefuls in new, engaging ways, including:

Source: TeamUSA.org

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