Google is back with another Olympics-themed Doodle today, this one ringing in the start of the 2018 Paralympics in PyeongChang. Throughout the entirety of February's Winter Games, the search engine released an interactive series of Snow Games Doodles celebrating each day of the competition.
The Paralympics are slightly shorter than the Olympics, running for a total of 10 days from March 9 to March 18. Over the next week and a half, 670 athletes will take to the snow and ice in pursuit of a medal. Compared to years past, a much larger percentage of those athletes are women. According to the International Paralympic Committee, there is a 44% increase in the number of women competing this year compared with the Paralympics in Sochi in 2014. The total number of athletes is also up, increasing 24% from 539.
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The Paralympics consist of six sports — ice hockey, wheelchair curling, alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and snowboard — making for over 80 medal events in total. Today's animated Doodle depicts athletes competing in each of those disciplines.
Medallists at the Paralympics will hold a different stuffed animal on the podium than those in the Winter Olympics. While Olympic athletes got Soohorang, the white tiger mascot, Paralympic athletes get the equally adorable mascot, Bandabi, who is based on the Asiatic black bear, a symbol of "strong will and courage."
NBC is once again the official broadcast partner. You'll be able to stream events via NBC, the Olympic Channel, and NBCSN. If you don't have TV log-in credentials, head here to find out how you can still get in on all the action. (If you purchased a Hulu Live, YouTube TV, or DirecTV Now subscription to watch the Oscars, you're in luck.)
Then, check out some earlier versions of today's homepage Doodle illustration.