For the first time in years, it appears the sky isn't falling ahead of an Olympic Games.

With three weeks to go before the start of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 9, there are no fears of the Zika virus, no uproar about $50 billion construction costs, and no concerns that dedicated "Olympic-only" lanes will cause traffic migraines.

Finally, it seems the focus will largely be on the Olympians themselves.

Athletes arriving early to Pyeongchang will find all 12 of the Olympic venues ready to go, a far cry from the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 when workers scrambled to put the finishing touches on buildings in the days leading up to the opening ceremony. All 12 venues are also within half an hour of each other, making South Korea's first Winter Games one of the most compact in history.

In total, 2,500 athletes from over 90 countries are set to take part in the Feb. 9-25 Games, competing in 102 medal events across seven sports and 15 disciplines. Four new events will make their debut at the Winter Olympics this year: big air snowboarding, mass-start long-track speed skating, alpine team ski and mixed doubles curling.

"We have a lot of expectations around the sport program, which we are very proud of, and believe it will be very popular with spectators," IOC Executive Director of the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi told Kyodo News.

Team Japan, meanwhile, has been tipped by some experts to make its strongest showing ever at a Winter Olympics. Netherlands-based sports statistics firm Gracenote predicts a haul of 15 medals for Japan, almost double the team's spoils from Sochi, where the athletes brought home 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals. Japan's medal hopefuls include speed skater Nao Kodaira and figure skaters Yuzuru Hanyu, Shoma Uno and Satoko Miyahara.

Japan has another interest in doing well in Pyeongchang as Sapporo considers a bid for the 2026 Winter Games. It has been suggested that the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, would favor a city from Europe or North America to host in 2026 following three straight editions of the Games in Asia (Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022).

But with negative public opinion derailing bids in the West and warmer weather reducing the list of potential host cities still further, a Sapporo bid could nevertheless find itself as the front-runner. A strong showing by Japan's athletes in Pyeongchang would only serve to underscore Sapporo's credentials.

Another bright spot for this edition of the Games has been the recent detente between North and South Korea. The Olympic Games have been the catalyst that brought the two sides back to the negotiating table, resulting in an agreement to allow athletes from both countries to march together under a "Korean Unification" flag at the opening ceremony and field a unified women's ice hockey team.

Even more bonhomie is expected this Saturday when the IOC hosts four-party talks at its headquarters in Lausanne to discuss the details of North Korean participation.

The participants will include delegations from the national Olympic committees of both countries, representatives from the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee (POCOG) and members of the IOC.

"I warmly welcome the joint proposals by the governments of the ROK and DPRK, which have been applauded by so many other governments worldwide," said Bach, who will chair the meeting on Saturday.

"This is a great step forward in the Olympic spirit and in the spirit of the Olympic Truce Resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Now the IOC must take the decisions to make this political commitment a reality."

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That's not to say Pyeongchang 2018 isn't facing any hiccups as the Games approach. Ticket sales, while improving, have been less than stellar, hotel bookings are also lukewarm, and the cold weather has prompted organizers to implement measures to combat hypothermia.

As of Jan. 15, 67.5 percent of all tickets for the Games had been sold, according to POCOG. That's up dramatically from the 32 percent recorded last October but it is still far from ideal so close to Games time.

"The IOC is very hopeful that the organizers' optimism regarding last-minute ticket sales will continue materializing, as we have seen a sizeable increase in ticket sales lately," Dubi said. "Sales campaigns will continue before and during the Games."

Organizers are also attempting to entice more people to stay overnight in Pyeongchang, with 53,000 of a total of 70,000 rooms still available, according to some estimates.

Part of the problem appears to have been the result of price gouging by hotel owners, enough apparently to keep even the staunchest Olympic fans away.

When asked to comment on the situation, a POCOG spokesperson told Kyodo News that the central and local governments recently conducted a joint investigation into the accommodation fees, "and as a result prices seem to have stabilized."

It remains to be seen whether spectators will opt to stay in the region or, as many people have commented online, return to Seoul after watching the competitions.

Unlike the last two editions of the Winter Games, warm weather is unlikely to be a problem in Pyeongchang. The organizing committee is taking measures to make sure spectators are protected from the cold, in particular at the open-air Olympic Stadium, where 35,000 people will take in the opening ceremony.

In addition to erecting wind guards around the stadium, organizers intend to hand out blankets and hot packs to spectators to help battle temperatures expected to be well below zero throughout the Games.