Olympic Channel launches "We Are One"
The unified Korean team’s historic joint march and women’s ice hockey team in PyeongChang are featured in "We Are One", a new documentary from the Olympic Channel. Watch behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews with both North and South Korean athletes as they faced personal and political challenges in the throes of competition.
During the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, North and South Korea marched together under the Korean Unification Flag for the first time since the Turin Games in 2006. This historic moment proved to be memorable for Koreans around the world and set the tone for further dialogue on peace and hope for the future of the two countries.
The journey of the athletes, coaches, dignitaries and others who played a role in bringing the two Koreas together is featured in a new Olympic Channel documentary entitled We Are One. An Olympic Channel original production, the 37-minute film premiered worldwide on Wednesday 13 June 2018 on the Olympic Channel on olympicchannel.com and its mobile apps.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said: “The joint march at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 showed the world the role that the Olympic Movement can play in opening the door to peace. Sport must continue to build bridges and show what it can do to bring people together.”
In January 2018, the IOC granted accreditation to 22 athletes from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to compete in PyeongChang. They competed in three sports and five disciplines. And for the first time in Olympic history, the IOC allowed two National Olympic Committees to compete on one team, as 12 of the DPRK athletes joined the Republic of Korea (ROK) to form the unified Korean women’s ice hockey team.
We Are One details the inclusion of the DPRK alongside the ROK at PyeongChang 2018 and their powerful show of unity during the Opening Ceremony. The film also follows the emotion-filled journey of the unified women’s ice hockey team from nervous introductions to their reception on the ice and their tearful goodbyes.
Filmed on-site during PyeongChang 2018, We Are One is told through first-person accounts and interviews with athletes, coaches, dignitaries, journalists and fans – including ice hockey players Marissa Brandt, Randi Griffin, Kim Hyang-mi, Kim Un-hyang, Park Jong-ah and Shin So-jung; figure skaters Kim Ju-sik and Ryom Tae-ok; Unified Team Coach Sarah Murray; IOC President Thomas Bach and Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“This past February, the world gathered together in PyeongChang for 17 days of peace, sport and culture,” said Mark Parkman, General Manager of the IOC’s global Olympic Channel. “Many will remember the emotional reception that the Korean unified team received as they entered the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony, and we are honoured to tell their story as they showed the world what can be accomplished when we work together.”
The Olympic Channel is a multi-platform, global media destination where fans can experience the power of sport and the excitement of the Olympic Games all year round, and is available worldwide via mobile apps for Android and iOS devices and at olympicchannel.com.