PYEONGCHANG 2018 VILLAGES OPEN TODAY

Kosovo, but also Ecuador, Eritrea, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore, will make their Winter Games debut at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Alpine skiing, Speed skating, cross-country skiing, figure skating and two-woman bobsleigh will be the disciplines in which the new athletes will compete.

The NOC of Kosovo, which made a magnificent Olympic debut at Rio 2016 with judoka Majlinda Kelmendi’s gold medal, will be represented for the first time at a Winter Olympics by Alpine skier Albin Tahiri, who will compete in all of the Alpine skiing disciplines, even if he is more of a speed specialist.

Albin learned to ski as a child in Slovenia, where he grew up and where Alpine skiing is very popular. Now he emphasises that his presence in PyeongChang means a lot for him and his country, and that this is only the start of what he hopes will be a brilliant future.

As for the other 5 NOCs participating for the first time at the Winter Olympics:

-Ecuador will be represented by Klaus Jungbluth Rodriguez, cross country skiing

-Eritrea, by Shannon-Ogbani Abeda, Alpine Skiing
-Malaysia, by Jeffrey Webb, Alpine Skiing and Julian Yee, Figure Skating
-Nigeria, by two-woman Bobsleigh athletes Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga,
– and Singapore, by Cheyenne Goh, short-track speed skating.

These 6 new entries NOCs will stay at the 2 Olympic Villages, which officially opened today to welcome 92 teams: the Olympic Village in PyeongChang, 180 km east of Seoul, and the other in Gangneung, 230 km east of the capital.