The 23rd Winter Olympics are to be held in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang. The first Winter Games were organized by the French Olympic Committee and hosted by the town of Chamonix. Originally billed as the Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver (international week of winter sports), they were later designated by the International Olympic Committee as the first Winter Olympics.

Pyeongchang is located in the Taebaek Mountains,130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Seoul. It is also just 80 kilometers from the DMZ, South Korea's border with North Korea. The North has raised tensions with a series of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests in recent months. In January, though, Pyongyang sought to reduce tensions, even offering to send a delegation to Pyeongchang.

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Claudia Pechstein is Germany's most successful winter Olympian, with a total of nine career medals. Not only will she be appearing at her seventh Olympics in February, but in Pyeongchang, she is set to celebrate her 46th birthday as well.

Almost 3,000 athletes will compete for the medals at Pyeongchang, but a Russian team won't be among them – at least not officially. Following a ban on Russian athletes imposed by the International Olympic Committee over allegations of state-sponsored doping, Russians deemed to be clean are to compete under the designation "Olympic Athlete from Russia."

The winter athletes are to compete in 15 disciplines, including the biathlon, bobsleigh, downhill skiing and speed skating. There are no new sports this time around, but there are some less traditional ones that promise to provide much excitement, including the Big Air in snowboarding or short-track speed skating.

Lindsey Vonn is one of the best-known figures in winter sports. The American downhill skier is the most successful women on the World Cup circuit, having won 78 races. However, her many injuries combined with the fact that she is now 33 mean that she will not be among the medal favorites in Pyeongchang.

Germany has a history of success at the Winter Games, and if you add up all of the medals that German athletes have won, you come up with a total of 377, including 136 gold medals. That's more than even the Russians, who have captured a total of 328 medals (132 gold).

Sales of the more than one million tickets for various Olympic events haven't been going as well as organizers had probably hoped, but by mid-December almost half of them had been snapped up. Lee Jie-Hye told the AFP news agency at the time that about half of all Olympic tickets are usually sold in the last two months, so "we don't expect any problems with meeting the target."

Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen is the most successful athlete in the history of the Winter Games. The Norwegian has won eight golds, four silvers and a bronze medal in the five Winter Games that he has competed in so far. It's not yet clear whether the 43-year-old will be part of the Norwegian team in Pyeongchang.

The Olympic stadium built for the Pyeongchang Games has a capacity of 35,000. It is to host the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympics and the Paralympic Winter Games, which are to be held in March.

The motto of Pyeongchang county, which is home to 43,706 residents is "Happy" – which stands for: Health, Amusement, Peace, Party, and Young. Almost 10,000 of the county's residents live in the town of Pyeongchang.

The Olympic Flame is to crisscross its way throughout all of South Korea's key towns and regions before arriving in Pyeongchang in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Some 7,500 runners are to take part in the Olympic torch relay through the country.