The biggest sporting event of the year will officially get going on Friday with the opening ceremony (12 p.m). Forecasts say the temperature around the stadium will be extremely low during the official ceremony. The athletes will start competing a day earlier and the first medals will be awarded just a day after the opening of the games. Among the first events will be the ski jumping competitions, a highlight for Slovenia at the Olympics. The first ski jumping qualifications start on Thursday.

Slovenia’s biathletes were among the first Slovenians to arrive in Pyeongchang. The majority of other athletes have now joined them. At Incheon International Airport we met Slovenia’s Alpine skiers, who after departing from Zagreb stopped in Dubai for some short fitness training. Some of the athletes arrived directly from Slovenia, while others, like for example the ski jumpers, started off for South Korea right after the ski jumping World Cup in Willingen from Frankfurt. The snowboarders will be the last to arrive in Pyeongchang, as their events are scheduled just before the closing of the games.

Altogether we traveled for 28 hours. Our journey took us from Zagreb through Doha to Seoul, and then by train to Gangneung where the journalists will be accommodated. The train trip from Incheon airport - in the past voted by passengers as the best airport in the world – along the Sea of Japan lasted a good two hours. When we finally reached our destination, we were met by a freezing and “biting” cold. We had the “Olympic feeling” the Jamaican bobsled team had in Cool Runnings. As a matter of fact, present in Pyeongchang is the female bobsled team of the Caribbean nation.