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Sweden takes home first gold medal of the 2018 Winter Olympics

<p>The nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula could soon spill over into the sports world.</p><p>The 2018 Winter Olympics will be in Pyeongchang, South Korea — roughly <a href="https://qz.com/1077182/to-be-held-near-north-korea-the-upcoming-winter-olympics-are-seeing-weak-ticket-sales/" target="_blank">50 miles</a> away from the border with North Korea. The proximity to an increasingly agitated rogue nation is making some Olympic committees nervous.</p><p>France's sports minister <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/france-becomes-first-country-to-threaten-to-withdraw-from-2018-winter-olympics/" target="_blank">told RTL Radio</a>, "If this gets worse and we do not have our security assured, then our French team will stay here."</p><p>President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un have repeatedly <a href="https://www.newsy.com/stories/north-korea-threatens-japan-with-nuclear-weapons-and-us/" target="_blank">exchanged barbs</a>, with both <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/22/trump-responds-after-north-korea-threatens-hydrogen-bomb-test.html" target="_blank">threatening to annihilate</a> each other's country. There's no telling where the situation will be in 2018.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/trump-announces-new-sanctions-against-north-korea/">Trump Announces New Sanctions Against North Korea</a></b></p><p>And North Korea's <a href="https://www.newsy.com/stories/north-korea-says-it-successfully-tested-a-hydrogen-bomb/" target="_blank">weapons capabilities</a> have grown significantly in recent months. The country's military has made major strides in its missile program and even claimed it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.</p><p>That could be one of the reasons the Pyeongchang Games are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2017/09/11/skorea-seeks-to-boost-slow-olympic-ticket-sales/105491954/" target="_blank">struggling to sell tickets</a> to the event. Organizers want to sell over 1 million tickets, but it's just a few months out, and they're not even halfway there.</p><p>International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said there was "not even a hint" of a security threat against the Winter Games coming from the Hermit Kingdom. And the president of Pyeongchang's organizing committee says the North won't cause any problems because it will likely have some of its own athletes competing.</p><p>The games are slated to start February 2018.</p><hr><b>Trending stories at <a href="http://www.newsy.com">Newsy.com</a></b><ul class="inline-related-links"><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/aaron-hernandez-s-fiancee-sues-the-nfl-over-cte-diagnosis/">Aaron Hernandez Had CTE, And His Family Is Taking Action</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/foul-ball-hits-child-at-yankee-stadium/">Not All MLB Stadiums Are Equally Safe; An Incident Wednesday Proved It</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/all-wnba-teams-in-new-nba-video-game/">WNBA Finally Gets Its Due In A New Video Game</a></li></ul>
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And the winner of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics' first gold medal is ... Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.

The 30-year-old Kalla raised her arms in triumph as she crossed the line in a time of 40 minutes, 44.9 seconds to win the 15-kilometer cross-country skiing.

Norway's Marit Bjørgen took silver, 7.8 seconds back, to become the most decorated female winter Olympian of all time while Finland's Krista Parmakoski clinched bronze, 10.1 seconds behind the winner.

Nicknamed "The Iron Lady," the 37-year-old Bjørgen won her eleventh Olympic medal, overtaking fellow cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina, who won 10 medals competing for the Soviet Union and the Unified Team between 1976 and 1992.

The 15km race, also known as the skiathlon, is split into two parts; it starts with 7.5km using the classical technique followed by freestyle on the second leg.

In one of the most physically testing events in the Olympics, Kalla broke away from the pack after about 34 minutes. Sixty seconds later, she had grabbed a 5.5-second lead over Bjørgen and never looked in danger of being caught.

The 30-year-old Kalla also won a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Games.

Dutch sweep

The Netherlands claimed four medals in just five minutes, with three Dutch women sweeping the 3,000m podium in the speed skating and Sjinkie Knegt taking silver in the short-track men's 1500m.

The Dutch Olympic team had a record-breaking Olympics four years ago, when it won 24 medals in Sochi, including 23 in long-track speed skating. The Dutch team is aiming for 15 medals in Pyeongchang.

Holland's Carlijn Achtereekte won in a time of 3 minutes, 59.21 seconds, just 0.08 of a second ahead of pre-race favorite and defending champion Ireen Wust, to claim her first Olympic title. Antoinette de Jong took bronze, at 0.81 second behind the winner.

A few minutes later, over in the short-track arena, South Korea's Lim Hyo-jun won the first gold medal for the host nation, beating world record holder Knegt in a new Olympic record as he broke away from the field halfway through the race.

The Olympic athletes of Russia also took their first medal as Semen Elistratov finished in third place.

Meanwhile, Germany's Laura Dahlmeier, 24, won her first gold medal in biathlon, taking the women's 7.5km sprint, ahead of Norway's Marte Olsbu in second place and Veronika Vitkova from the Czech Republic in third.

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