PROFILE: Pyeongchang lives up to favourite tag

By Dirk Godder Jul 6, 2011, 17:44 GMT

Durban, South Africa/Seoul - Even though Pyeongchang was considered the favourite to win the race to host the 2018 Winter Olympics ahead of rivals Munich and Annecy the South Korean city left nothing to chance after missing out twice previously.

Pyeongchang lost out to Vancouver, Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics and to the Russian resort of Sochi for the 2014 edition by just three and four votes, respectively.

'We prepared for this for 10 years and we could not afford to relax until the announcement,' said an ecstatic Cho Yang-ho, chairman of the Pyeongchang bid committee.

On Wednesday, the South Korean bid overwhelmingly beat Munich and the French resort of Annecy in the first vote at the 123rd IOC Session after picking up 63 of the 95 votes on offer, thereby making a second round of voting reduntant.

Munich received 25 votes, while Annecy received just seven.

The central theme of Pyeongchang's bid with its slogan 'New Horizons' is that granting the Winter Games to South Korea for the first time spreads the Olympic movement to new parts of the world.

South Korea also sees the process as a national priority as the country looks to increase its sporting influence.

'We have a simple vision. We want to help promote the Olympic movement, and grow winter sports to new regions and connect with new audiences,' said Cho.

'The message we sent to the IOC members is that with Pyeongchang 2018 is a huge opportunity to grow winter sports in Asia - a market with huge potential.

'We are glad that the IOC members understood this message and believed that the time was right to give us the Winter Olympics.'

Pyeongchang's chances of success improved even further after the French resort of Annecy fell behind in preparations following the abrupt resignation of its bidding committee chief last December.

However, Pyeongchang's preparations also were not without problems, not least when regional governor Lee Kwang-jae was forced to step down in January of this year when the country's supreme court upheld a conviction for receiving illegal political funds.

Despite a strong German challenge from Munich, which surprisingly was not shown in the number of votes cast for the German city, South Korea will - in 2018 - become the first Asian country outside Japan to host a Winter Olympics. President Lee Myung-bak, who led the South Korean delegation in Durban, said that he considered the announcement to be a victory for all South Koreans.

The IOC 2018 Evaluation Commission made its final on-site inspection of Pyeongchang in February of this year, noting the resort's 'very compact concept' and its significance in winter sports development throughout Asia.

Pyeongchang also finished top of the IOC's survey of public support for the bids with 87 per cent of the city's citizens backing the games. By comparison, Munich had 60 per cent support in the city and Annecy only 51 per cent.

Cho though dismissed these figures. 'I know they said we had close to 90 per cent both in the city and throughout the country. I tell you that is wrong though, we enjoy more than 100 per cent,' he said, adding that 50 million South Koreans were celebrating the decision with a huge party.

It is probably a party they richly deserve as the last two ones fell rather flat when they were overlooked by the IOC.

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