The Olympic torch relay starts in Incheon on Nov. 1, exactly 100 days before the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Pictured are PyeongChang honorary ambassador Kim Yuna (left) and Organizing Committee Presdient Lee Hee-beom during a press conference to unveil the torch relay route, in Seoul on April 17. (Korea.net DB)
By Sohn JiAe
The Olympic torch for next year’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will arrive in Korea on Nov. 1, exactly 100 days until the Opening Ceremony.
The torch will be lit on Oct. 24 at the Heraion Temple and the Ancient Olympic Stadium in Greece, and then moved to Incheon. The torch will be carried across 17 cities and provinces in Korea over 101 days, until Feb. 9, 2018, when the Winter Games begin.
Under the slogan of “Let Everyone Shine,” the Olympic torch relay will have five themes, themes on which the Olympic Games themselves will also focus: the economy, the environment, IT, the arts and peace.
In Incheon, the start of the relay, a total of 101 torch bearers, a number symbolizing the 101 days of the torch relay, will cross the Incheon Bridge with 2,018 Olympic supporters, covering 18.38 kilometers from Yeongjongdo Island, home to Incheon International Airport, to the Songdo business district.
On Nov. 20, the torch will head up Bonghwa Hill at the Suncheon Bay Gardens in Jeollanam-do Province. It will move to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, where a robot will carry the torch.
On Jan. 13, 2018, the torch will stay lit as part of a reenactment of a royal Joseon parade, known as the Eoga Haengnyeol (어가행렬), which runs from Gyeongbokgung Palace to Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. A bicycle will carry the torch along the northernmost regions of the country near the military demarcation line between Jan. 20 and 26.
On Dec. 25, Christmas, the torch will be at the Santa Village in Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, and then at Homigot Square in Pohang on New Year’s Day Jan. 1, 2018.
“The torch relay is a prelude to officially starting the PyeongChang Olympic Games and it’s just one month away,” said President Lee Hee-beom of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee. “We will do our utmost to make the Olympics a chance to let the world know about our glorious history and culture, and, also, to make these Games a legacy that will live on in Olympic lore,” he said.
jiae5853@korea.kr
