STORY: 4th Winter Youth Olympic Games open in S. Korea
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 19, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 20, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:56
LOCATION: GANGNEUNG, South Korea
CATEGORY: SPORTS

SHOTLIST:
1. STANDUP (English): YANG CHANG, Xinhua reporter
2. various of the speed skating venue
3. various of audience

STORYLINE:

STANDUP (English): YANG CHANG, Xinhua reporter
"2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games opened here on Friday. The Gangwon 2024 is scheduled to be held from January 19 to February 1, with over 1,800 athletes from 78 countries and regions expected to participate. 
A total of 56 athletes from the Chinese sports delegation will compete across seven major events, 12 sub events, 50 minor events in the Winter Youth Olympics. This marks Asia's first hosting of the Winter Youth Olympics and South Korea's second Olympic-level event after the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics."

The fourth Winter Youth Olympic Games officially opened on Friday night with a grand opening ceremony in South Korea's eastern Gangwon Province.
   
The opening ceremony was held concurrently in the Gangneung Oval and the PyeongChang Dome under the theme of "The Universe."
   
The theme symbolized the infinite possibility of youth by describing an imaginative journey of Woori, the ceremony's heroine and a high school girl growing up in the province, to discover a forgotten dream and create her own universe.
   
Woori in Korean can be translated into "being together," representing those who have turned their dream into reality.
   
"You are following in the footsteps of sporting icons who made Olympic history right here at the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang 2018," International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said at the ceremony.
  
Bach encouraged young athletes to do their best in the upcoming competitions while making new friends, learning Olympic values and respecting competitors.
   
A digital cauldron was lit outdoors at Gangneung Olympic Park to emphasize the sustainability of the Winter Youth Olympics, while the Olympic cauldron was lit in a traditional way in the Gangneung Oval.
   
The digital representation of the Olympic flame will be viewed throughout the two-week event.
   
The ceremony was also celebrated by South Korean singers, dancers and artists at both arenas.
   
The athletes will compete in the four cities of Gangneung, PyeongChang, Jeongseon and Hoengseong.
   
The Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics will feature seven sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gangneung, South Korea.
(XHTV)