VIDEO: Blue Goes for the Gold

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 8, 2018) ―  You can almost hear the familiar strains of music.

And when you do, you know … it’s time for the Olympic games.

From Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, the games of the 23rd Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang County, South Korea.

But this year, at this Olympics, Blue will be going for the gold, too, and that means you get the opportunity to go along for the ride.

Throughout the games, UKNow will be serving up stories about the special ties the University of Kentucky — and the UK family — has to the Olympics and this year’s event in particular. We will be your official source of news — at www.uky.edu/Olympics— for all things "Blue" and "Gold" and some related stories that speak to the power of sports to heal, inspire, promote and educate.

Here’s a preview of the next few weeks:

• You will read about one of our alums, who is representing her native land — Nigeria. Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo, a graduate of UK’s College of Communication and Information, is Africa’s first female skeleton athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. Before she even competes, she already has a number of firsts to her name. Find out what fuels her drive to compete.
• Tom Hammond has been covering the Olympic games for NBC Sports longer than many of our current students have been alive. He will give a bird’s-eye view of what it is like to be on the inside of the games, covering both the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” on the world’s largest stage.
• You will learn about UK’s Sports Medicine Research Institute, in the College of Health Sciences, where high-performance athletes can learn more about how their bodies work — and how they break down — as part of a nationally leading effort to help athletes and others maximize performance.
• On a special podcast, we will discuss with two experts the growth of sports as business — now a multibillion-dollar enterprise that draws the attention of fans, corporations, products and commercials year-round.
• A number of Korean students call UK home during the academic year. They will provide insight about culture and the way of life in South Korea, a country at the epicenter of global politics and, increasingly, an economic engine.
• What fuels an athlete? At UK, we have our own high-performance approach to nutrition for students who participate in the university’s 22 varsity sports. We will give you a peek into what they eat and how they manage their nutrition to ensure they are ready for prime performance.
• And you will travel with our UK cheerleading squad, which recently won a national championship for a record 23rd time. These special athletes, and UK representatives, have been chosen to represent the United States as cheerleading vies to be a sport at future Olympics.

This year, "Blue" will be going for the "Gold," too. We will take you on the journey with special athletes and those who support them and have insight into what makes the Olympics so special. Be sure to visit www.uky.edu/olympics and follow along on all of our social media channels by looking for #olympiCats.

Discover one of UK's closest connections to the Olympics by watching the video interview above with UK Cheerleading Head Coach Jomo Thompson.