Olympics fans arriving at South Korea’s Gangneung Station on their way to the coastal ice arenas this week are getting a sneak peek at 5G Champion, a pioneering mobile-broadband project two years in the making. This joint EU-Korea venture—led by France’s CEA-Leti and South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute—stands out as a quiet contender in what the Games’ official telecommunications sponsor, KT Corp., has dubbed the “first 5G Olympics.”

Much ado has been made of KT’s own widely-publicized demos, and in pizazz, they did not disappoint. After deploying its 5G trial network at the opening ceremony on Feb. 9 to synchronize in real time 1,200 flickering LED candles forming a giant dove, KT continues to dazzle spectators with display tablets and virtual-reality glasses live-streaming its vision for a 5G future: immersive footage from ski courses and bobsleigh cockpits; 360-degree close-ups of speed skaters and ice dancers; VR trips to hockey games and snowboarding runs.

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