HS Snow Jam Draws Big Crowds
Seoul Snow Jam 2009, an international snowboarding festival that ended after three days in the heart of Seoul, Sunday, was a major success, attracting as many as 260,000 spectators, the Seoul metropolitan government said Monday.
A representative said that the number of visitors to the festival increased from 65,000 Friday, the first day, to 95,000 Saturday and 100,000 on the last day, aggregating 260,000 despite cold temperatures.
A freestyle show took place, following the colorful opening ceremony on the first day. During the following two days, the preliminaries and finals of the Snowboard Big Air World Cup were held.
As many as 45,000 spectators, or 15 percent of the total, were foreigners, the representative said.
"We were able to promote Seoul to the world as the event was covered by some 400 reporters from 190 news outlets, including about 150 foreign journalists from 65 foreign media such as CNN, NHK, the AP and The New York Times," said chief representative Kang Cheol-won.
He added that 12 international sports broadcasters, including ESPN Star Sport, Eurosport and Fox Sports, relayed the event to TV viewers in more than 170 countries.
"In particular, some citizens worried about traffic congestion and accidents from the winter sports event earlier. However, there were no accidents or other problems as the organizers made watertight preparations for the contest,"Kang said.
Gian-Luca Cavigelli, 21, of Switzerland won the championship; Stefan Gimple, 30, from Austria was the runner-up; and Makku Koski, 28, from Finland came in third place, garnering cash prizes and trophies.