The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will bring together athletes from all corners to compete in 102 events across 15 sports.

Starting February 8, if you miss a competition, you can watch select Olympic Winter Games video highlights from official Olympic broadcasters on YouTube in more than 80 countries around the world including from NBCUniversal (USA), BBC (UK), NHK (Japan), France TV (France), and Eurosport (Rest of Europe). In the U.S., YouTube TV will also show NBCUniversal’s live coverage of the Olympic Winter Games, and in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal, the Winter Games will be for the first time live and free on the Olympic Channel on YouTube.

YouTube holds a treasure trove of content to get you excited for the 2018 games. Learn about the games, go behind the scenes, brush up on your figure skating facts, and get up to speed on the stories to watch.

In fact, in 2017, people tuned in to watch many sports on YouTube, with ice hockey receiving the most views among all Winter Olympics sports, followed by figure skating. In the battle of skiing vs. snowboarding, skiing takes the bronze, overtaking snowboarding for the #3 spot.

While some sports are globally popular, there are some interesting cultural differences when examining each country’s top sport compared to the global average. In host country South Korea, speed skating is 10x more popular than in the rest of the world, while in Norway – which leads the all-time medal table – skiing is king. And does latitude make a difference? Southern Hemisphere countries tend to prefer bobsleigh, luge and curling, while countries up north like Canada and Russia love hockey.

And to get in the spirit, do as the locals and shout “Fighting (화이팅)!” for your home team. … 

Tomos Grace, Head of Sports for YouTube EMEA, recently watched Wales in the Six Nations.

YouTube Blog