--- description: The Olympics kicked off with an exciting opening ceremony, giving viewers their first look at the athletes who are competing in the Games. title: Here's How Many Athletes Are at the 2018 Winter Olympics image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8c16c2693a12698/69892702096a94f79a6a16fd/olympic-athletes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's How Many Athletes Are Competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Feb 10, 2018 3:52 AM CUT  Flag bearer Erin Hamlin of the United States leads the team during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018. Flag bearer Erin Hamlin of the United States leads the team during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018.XIN LI/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Feb 10, 2018 3:52 AM CUT The [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5141692/how-many-winter-olympics/ "undefined") in [PyeongChang, South Korea](http://time.com/5070315/winter-olympics-2018-location/ "undefined"), kicked off with an exciting [opening ceremony](http://time.com/5142016/team-usa-fringed-gloves-memes-olympics-2018/ "undefined") on Friday, giving viewers their first look at the thousands of athletes who are competing in this year’s Games. There are [2,952 athletes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkay/2018/02/09/winter-olympics-2018-complete-pyeongchang-dates-schedule-gold-medal-odds-expert-picks-and-more/#7079346f63e6 "undefined") set to face off in 102 events across 15 different sports over the course of the next 16 days before the Games come to a close on Feb. 25\. These events will take place at 13 venues spread across the counties of PyeongChang and Jeongseon, as well as the coastal city of Gangneung. The 2018 Winter competitors hail from 92 different countries around the world and athletes from six of these nations—Singapore, Malaysia, Kosovo, Ecuador, Eritrea, Nigeria—are vying for medals for the first time. The members of Team USA hail from 31 states, with Colorado and California sending 31 and 22 contenders to lead the pack in American qualifiers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5142791/olympics-2018-number-of-athletes-countries/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5142791/olympics-2018-number-of-athletes-countries/"},"headline":"Here's How Many Athletes Are Competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics","datePublished":"2018-02-10T03:52:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:31.140Z","description":"And how many countries they came from","url":"https://time.com/5142791/olympics-2018-number-of-athletes-countries/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8c16c2693a12698/69892702096a94f79a6a16fd/olympic-athletes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8c16c2693a12698/69892702096a94f79a6a16fd/olympic-athletes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 Winter Olympic Games - Opening Ceremony","caption":"Flag bearer Erin Hamlin of the United States leads the team during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018.","creditText":"XIN LI/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5142791/olympics-2018-number-of-athletes-countries/","name":"Here's How Many Athletes Are Competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics"}}]}] ```