Gangwon 2024 – 3 days to go!
Gangwon (FIL/16 Jan 2024) We’re three days to go until the opening ceremony of Gangwon 2024, the first Winter Youth Olympic Games in Asia!
A total of 102 female and male athletes from 26 nations and four continents will tackle the exhilarating 1,376 metre luge track at the Olympic Sliding Center in Pyeongchang – venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics – in Men’s and Women’s Single, Men’s and Women’s Double and Team Relay events from January 20 to 23, 2024.
Childhood dreams
Competing at the Youth Olympic Games is a dream come true for all the athletes competing at YOG 2024 – for some, this dream goes back to early childhood.
Maggie Dowling, now 17, was just three years old when she got the luge bug, watching from the sidelines at her home track in Naseby on New Zealand’s South Island. She couldn’t wait to get started aged seven and has been throwing down the hammer ever since: “I need the speed and love the rush and adrenaline luge gives me,” she explained.
Beach to Gangwon 2024
Luge – the world’s fastest sport on ice – definitely has a special draw, pulling in athletes from brand new nations, including Puerto Rico and Thailand, set to make history by sending their first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) lugers to Gangwon 2024.
Isabela Aponte, 15, from the easternmost island in the Greater Antilles – famous for beaches, mangroves and rainforests – cannot wait to set foot on the track:
“This goes really deep in my heart – to have the opportunity to hold my island’s flag high, in a winter sport where we’re rarely represented.
“Puerto Ricans are typically filled with a happy spirit and joy. We’re not afraid to be ourselves. I am excited to bring all this with me to the Youth Olympic Games.”
She will be joined by Thailand’s Sunita Chaiyapantho (16) and Thiraphat Sata (17).
Chaiyapantho transitioned from roller ski to roller luge in Bangkok – then graduated with flying colours from the FIL Luge School, supported by IOC Solidarity, in Lillehammer, Norway.
“Luge has already given me so many life-changing experiences,” she said. “Now, becoming Thailand’s first female luge athlete at the Youth Olympic Games is all I can think of – I’m doing everything possible to get ready for the Games.”
Luge at YOG – sport meets education and travel
The Youth Olympic Games, held every four years for young athletes between 14 and 18, are also more than sport – they are an international educational and cultural festival.
Kaia Hatton, 14, of Team GB – following in the footsteps of her Olympic luger father Mark Hatton – is looking forward to the action as well as the new opportunities the Youth Olympic Games offers:
“2023 was the first time I travelled internationally to train and compete – now I’m about to go to Asia for the first time in my life.
“I can’t wait to get to the Youth Olympic Village, I’m excited to meet athletes with so many nationalities!”
