Gangwon picks up where PyeongChang left off for satisfying second act

A sequel is never easy. Yet despite the potential for a difficult second act, Gangwon 2024 so far seems to have picked up exactly where PyeongChang left off, from the athleticism on display to the enthusiastic crowds and the plunging temperatures

Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon is packed with spectators for the final of the men's and women's 500-meter short track speed skating competition on Monday. [YONHAP]

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon — A sequel is never easy. From “Jaws” to “Grease,” some of the most popular movies of all time have fallen foul of the unwanted second act, looking for a repeat success and ending up with a historic flop instead.

Fear of that same phenomenon must have plagued the organizers of the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics, taking place just six years after the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics at largely the same venues to presumably a vastly similar audience.

And yet despite the obvious potential for a difficult second act, Gangwon 2024 so far seems to have picked up exactly where PyeongChang left off, from the athleticism on display to the enthusiastic crowds and, of course, the plunging temperatures.

The Gangwon Games began with an Opening Ceremony on Jan. 19 and run through Feb. 1, following broadly the same format as a Winter Olympics, but skewed to slightly younger U-18 athletes.

In reality, the reduced age appears to have very little impact on the spectacle of the Games. U-18 athletes are already a common fixture at the senior Olympics — some of the youngest senior Olympic medalists in history actually would not qualify for the Youth Olympics’ 15 to 18 age range — and with all the clothing and equipment involved in nearly every winter sport, it’s impossible to tell the age of the competitors anyway.

Korea's So Jae-hwan races in the men's monobob at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics in Pyeongchang, Gangwon on Tuesday. So went on to win gold in the event. [YONHAP]

The complexity of winter sports also helps. The vast majority of the disciplines, from speed skating and luge to ice hockey and biathlon, are so far beyond what most of us would ever be able to achieve that the age of the athletes is immaterial — if anything, watching a 16-year-old throw themselves headfirst down an ice track is more impressive when you’re twice their age.

So the athleticism and entertainment value is undoubtedly there, but what of the Games themselves? Any Olympics is more than just the sum of its sports, with complex infrastructure and a host of sideline events needed to keep everything going both on and off the ice and snow.

The Winter Olympics makes that even harder, with very few places able to provide venues for both snow and ice sports in the same area. The 2018 PyeongChang Games got around that problem by having the snow sports and the Olympic Village in the mountainous Pyeongchang region of Gangwon, with the ice sports about 60 kilometers (37 miles) down the road in coastal Gangneung, Gangwon.

The Gangwon 2024 Olympics flips that on its head, putting the heart of the Games in Gangneung, with snow sports spread across both Pyeongchang and neighboring Jeongseon. The Youth Olympics makes use of almost the exact same venues, although it does not stretch as far west as Phoenix Snow Park, which was used at PyeongChang for freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

Visitors walk through Gangneung Olympic Park in Gangneung, Gangwon during the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics on Tuesday with temperatures dropping below minus 10 degrees Celsius. [YONHAP]

Moving the bulk of the action to Gangneung creates a more accessible Games, with the Olympic Park only a short distance away from the KTX station rather than the complex routes involved in getting anywhere in mountainous Pyeongchang.

As well as the compulsory souvenir store — dubbed Moongcho’s Store after the Gangwon 2024 mascot — the Olympic Park is home to a range of activities all geared toward younger visitors. As well as an ice rink and a sort of seated bobsled sliding zone, the Gangneung Festival also includes a big standing swing, traditional games and foods, photo booths and mini hockey, mini curling and mini biathlon experiences.

Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon is packed with spectators for the final of the men's and women's 500-meter short track speed skating competition on Monday. [YONHAP]

These activities all proved popular with the younger visitors when this reporter visited on the Monday and Tuesday after the Games began. The queue for the ice rink alone stretched back a good 20 meters (65 feet), even with temperatures well below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).

Like on the weekdays of PyeongChang, the majority of the crowd in Gangneung on Monday was very clearly bussed-in groups of children and elderly people being shepherded between events, but that did not seem to effect how much they were engaging with the sport on display. There was a fair number of families as well, alongside enough international visitors to still give the Games a distinctly Olympic feel.

Members of the Wonju City Public Relations Committee watch the ice hockey at the Gangneung Ice Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon on Monday. [YONHAP]

In Pyeongchang the crowd was a bit less diverse. At the team relay luge on Tuesday morning, the non-accredited crowd appeared to be composed mainly of local elderly residents — and Minho from Shinee — on coach tours. That may well have been because it was an early start in a particularly difficult-to-reach venue, with other events in PyeongChang reportedly seeing a better turnout.

Crowds watch the luge team relay at Alpensia Sliding Centre in Pyeongchang, Gangwon on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Once constant at every big event was the presence of a loud German cheering section. While most countries count on support from their own off-duty athletes or visiting family members, the Germans flew in their own cheering section bedecked in official Team Germany uniforms. Present at all the big events to back their athletes, the Germans have even created dance moves to the official “We go high” Olympic song.

The dancing Germans act as a catalyst at some events, their synchronized “We go high” dance quickly pulling in the surrounding Korean spectators at the short-track speedskating on Monday evening to add to the party atmosphere.

But alongside the dancing Germans and the athleticism, there’s one thing that really sets the Gangwon Games apart from its PyeongChang predecessor — the price.

The German cheering contingent at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics dances to the official ″We go high″ theme tune at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon on Monday. [JIM BULLEY]

All events at the Gangwon Games — with the sole exception of the Opening Ceremony — are entirely free to watch. Tickets can be purchased online in advance, although there are also ticket booths outside every event, at least in Gangneung.

International multisport events hold a special place in Korean history, with the 1988 Seoul Olympics often remembered as the moment that Korea reestablished itself as an international player after recovering from the damage of the Korean War (1950-1953).

But if the 1988 Seoul Olympics was Korea’s coming out ceremony, the 2002 World Cup Korea’s coming of age and the 2018 PyeongChang Games Korea’s graduation, the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics so far look to be proof that this sort of wide-scale event is just business as usual for 21st Century Korea.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]