<P> On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time . Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo . Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen . On the ice, the Dutch dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events . Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers . In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100 - point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal . Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games . </P> <P> Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £ 600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 33 medals including thirteen golds . However Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine . A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state - sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports . On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics with immediate effect and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead . </P> <P> On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France . This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul . The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018 . More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events . The Olympic Stadium and many of the sports venues were situated in the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong - myeon, Pyeongchang, while a number of other sports venues were located in the Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighboring city of Gangneung . </P> <P> The lead - up to the 2018 Winter Olympics was affected by the tensions between North and South Korea and the ongoing Russian doping scandal . Despite tense relations, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games, enter with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a unified Korea, and field a unified team in women's ice hockey . Individual Russian athletes, who qualified and could demonstrate they had complied with the IOC's doping regulations, were given the option to compete neutrally in Pyeongchang as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) but they were not allowed to compete under the Russian flag . </P>

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