Mattarella gives PyeongChang bearers the flag (4)

Rome, December 18 - President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) chief Giovanni Malagò spurred Italy'a athletes on as they handed over the flag to speed skater Arianna Fontana and ice sledge hockey skipper Florian Plancker ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. "The whole of Italy is with you, "Mattarella told the Olympic and Paralympic athletes and staff. "I will watch some events on TV," he told them. Malagò told the president, "we vow to go to Korea to dispute a great Olympics. "We want to be a positive symbol, becoming interpreters and messengers of your teachings and encouragement," the CONI chief said. Malagò went on to specify that the Olympic team was 130 strong, a figure that "allows us to set a new record for a Winter Olympics outside our borders" - on other words, not counting Turin 2006. Short-track skater Fontana is the Olympics flag-bearer while ice sledge hockey ace Plancker is the Paralympics flag carrier. The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games is scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018 in PyeongChang County, South Korea. These will be South Korea's second Olympic Games and its first Winter Games. Seoul hosted the Summer Games in 1988. PyeongChang will be the third Asian city to host the Winter Games. The first two were in Japan, at Sapporo (1972) and Nagano (1998).