<Ul> <Li> IOC </Li> <Li> KOC </Li> <Li> POCOG </Li> </Ul> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (Korean: 제 23 회 동계 올림픽, translit . Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpik) and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, was a major multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, South Korea, with the opening rounds for certain events held on 8 February 2018, the eve of the opening ceremony . Pyeongchang was elected as the host city in July 2011, during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa . This marks the first time South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics, and the second time the Olympic games have been held in the country, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul . It also marks the third time East Asia has hosted the Winter Games, after Sapporo, Japan (1972), and Nagano, Japan (1998), and the sixth overall Olympic Games held in East Asia . It was the first of three consecutive Olympic Games to be held in East Asia, preceding Tokyo 2020 (Summer) and Beijing 2022 (Winter). </P> <P> The games featured 102 events in fifteen sports, with the addition of "big air" snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the Winter Olympic programme . 2,914 athletes from 92 NOCs competed, including the debuts of Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore . </P>

When did the winter olympics start this year