PyeongChang 2018 showcased what it calls its unique vision for the Winter Games, expressed as “New Horizons”, to the 88 members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne on Wednesday.
PyeongChang’s bid team was led by Chairman and CEO Yang Ho Cho, and included a debut speech by reigning Figure Skating Olympic Champion Yu-na Kim. Other bid team members included Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) chairman Park Yong-sung, IOC members Lee Kun-hee and Moon Dae-sung.
PyeongChang 2018 reaffirmed to the IOC members how Korea, through 10 years of committed bidding for the Winter Games, has been an excellent partner for the IOC and has kept its promises to build a sustainable winter sports hub in Asia.
Yang-Ho Cho said, “today marks an important step in our campaign; we had the great opportunity to present directly to the IOC members and showcase our vision of New Horizons. It was our honour to be able to re-confirm this commitment to the IOC members. We explained that our bid is a national priority and also gave a detailed presentation of our compact Games plan and the amazing level of public support, as shown by the IOC’s poll of 92 per cent of PyeongChang’s citizens supporting the bid”.
Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Sung-Hwan Kim, said that PyeongChang’s bid was a “national priority” for the Korean government. “We promised to build a year-round resort that would serve as the centre of our Winter Games Plan. In September 2010, with an investment of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, we opened the Alpensia resort, the heart of the Alpensia mountain cluster”.
He added, “in terms of our transport plan, we have continued work on the high-speed rail link between Incheon International Airport, Seoul, PyeongChang, and the Coastal Cluster in Gangneung. It will be completed in 2017, enabling visitors to travel from Seoul to PyeongChang in just 50 minutes. This will be one of the fastest access to Winter Games venues in Olympic history”.
PyeongChang 2018 announced its commitment to ensure a smooth transition to the 2018 Organising Committee if it hosts the Games. Minister Kim said, “the first guarantee is financial, we have set aside two million U.S. dollars for the maximum transition period of just three months. The second guarantee is the leadership you see on this stage here today – the bid committee, the Korean Olympic Committee, and all levels of government will play key leadership roles in the new Organising Committee”.
