There’s only a few days left until the 2018 Winter Olympics are upon us, so get ready to wake up super early the next few weeks to catch all the action. The big sporting event, which will be in PyeongChang, South Korea this year, starts with the opening ceremony, which all kicks off on February 9 at 8 p.m. in Korea…. AKA the wee hours of the morning in the U.S.
If you want to catch the ceremony live, you’ll have to wake up at 6 a.m. EST, when it starts, and not fall back asleep until 8 a.m., when it’s supposed to end (but these things always run long, thanks to the never-ending Parade of Nations). To watch it in real-time, stream it on NBCOlympics.com or the NBC Sports app. If you can’t roll out of bed that early, the next time to watch the ceremony will be at 8 p.m. EST on NBC’s TV channel.
The night is shaping up to be an eventful one. North and South Korea will march during the Parade of Nations under the same flag, which is fitting since the theme of the night is peace. The ceremony will marry Korean history with modern Korean modern, of course, K-Pop.
Katie Couric and Mike Tirico will host the festivities for U.S. audiences, which will be broadcast from the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium that seats 35,000 people. Hopefully the predicted severe weather holds off because the stadium doesn’t have a roof — but still, Team USA will be prepared for the cold, because Polo Ralph Lauren has designed HEATED COATS (that the athletes can control through their smartphones, no less!) as part of the athletes’ uniform, and also some enormous fringed gloves.
The actual games start on Thursday, February 8 with some fun curling and ski jumping events. Also, some figure skating, yay! Then, on Saturday, February 10, all the other competitions begin.
