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Staff reporter
With exactly one year remaining before the selection of the host for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the PyeongChang bidding committee head said Tuesday that campaign efforts now will focus on winning the hearts and minds of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members.
"I will be at every major sports event, meet every IOC member possible and try to show them what they want in order to persuade them into voting for PyeongChang," Cho Yang-ho, the bidding committee president, said in an interview with The Korea Times.
The interview followed a ceremony hosted by the committee to further efforts for the next 12 months before the final selection is announced next year.
Organizers gave interim briefs on their campaign activities and unveiled a new slogan for the campaign and new special promotional ambassadors.
The race is totally open, and nobody can be sure of winning at the moment, Cho added.
"The situation is fluctuating. Even though we are repeating some of the activities of our previous campaigns, that doesn't mean we are just doing the same things over and not making changes. The mechanism for persuasion has to be varied each time."
Cho, also chairman of Korean Air, took the sole leadership of the PyeongChang committee last month after former co-chair Kim Jin-sun stepped down as governor of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang is located, earlier this year after serving three terms.
Cho said now his schedule almost completely revolves around the PyeongChang campaign.
The 61-year-old entrepreneur said he has travelled around the world about four times since assuming the top post in September last year.
"Korean Air carries more than 20 million passengers in its planes each year, but now I feel it was rather easy to deal with them compared to some 100 IOC members I've met so far," Cho said.
The IOC Executive Committee confirmed PyeongChang as a candidate city last month, along with Annecy of France and Munich of Germany.
For the remaining one year, the three contenders will carry out presentations and submit candidate files to the IOC early next year, and also undergo an on-site technical assessment of their facilities and other amenities, before the final selection in July 2011 at the IOC session in Durban, South Africa.
Now a veteran in the bidding, PyeongChang will face another tough battle against two European rivals. Munich is backed by a few bigwigs including IOC Vice President Thomas Bach, one of the strongest favorites to succeed the incumbent President Jacque Rogge.
Annecy is mobilizing an army of former athletes, including its bidding committee head Edgar Grospiron, a former Olympic freestyle skiing gold medalist, to stand out as a sports-savvy contender. French President Nikolas Sarkozy has also made it clear that the government will give the campaign full-fledged support.
In response, PyeongChang has been actively highlighting its advantages, including the convenience in location that connects all sports venues within a 30-minute drive and the country's incessantly growing zest for winter sports.
A poll last December showed more than 91 percent local support for PyeongChang's bid, well ahead of the 88 percent in France and 68 percent in Germany.
PyeongChang's earlier frustrations in its past two bids can be turned into an advantage, Cho said
"Stressing PyeongChang's merits should turn the tide to our side," he said. "Most of past events were held in Western countries. A lot of officials I have met actually said they want a different place this time."
Not only will efforts by organizers in PyeongChang and Gangwon Province be important, but also state-backed actions will be critical this time, Cho said.
"Many IOC members I met told me that PyeongChang is great in overall preparation for sports events, but its location looks a bit too remote. An early completion of the subway line between Wonju and Gangneung is pivotal to our campaign in that regard," the committee head said.
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