By Nam Hyun-woo
The organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics pledged Thursday their preparations will “stick to plan,” amid rising concerns about whether they can ready venues in time for the first test event to be staged in February.
PyeongChang Organizing Committee Secretary General Yeo Hyung-koo told reporters in a briefing, “There have been delays in construction due to weather conditions and administrative processes, but we have put extra manpower and equipment into action in order to stage test events without any setbacks, with construction work continuing for 24 hours a day.”
The new secretary general’s remarks came after a number of local media outlets lambasted that the first test event “might be cancelled” due to slow construction progress.
Ahead of the PyeongChang Games, to run from Feb. 9 to 25 in 2018, a total of 28 Olympic and Paralympic test events will be held at the Olympic venues. The organizers will put some 50 billion won into the test events, the first of which will be the FIS (International Ski Federation) Alpine World Ski Championships, slated for Feb. 6 and 7 at Jeongseon Alpine Center.
The new venue has been under construction since May last year, but is yet to set up gondolas, with its slopes still remaining green without snow. The construction started off on the wrong foot as environmental issues prevented the organizers breaking ground, while a constructor reportedly failed to make payment to subcontractors on time causing a halt in construction.
Adding to this, rain continued for 22 days from October to November to slow the progress, and warmer-than-average temperatures also caused setbacks in snowmaking, with Yeo saying the organizers deployed snow cannons Wednesday morning.
Yeo said that Jeongseon Alpine Center is 53.7 percent complete, but added that the test event is set to be held when the completion rate reaches 60 percent by the Jan. 20 deadline. The organizers promised the FIS that the center will be 60 percent completed by then and reportedly secured approval for the test event, expected to be attended by some 400 athletes and staffers, as an official FIS World Cup series.
“Constructions will continue at night and over Christmas and New Year holidays. Some 100 personnel are involved in the snowmaking work,” Yeo said.
The organizers also said that a series of cultural festivities and exhibitions will commemorate the two-year countdown to the Games. They will install sculptures to promote the PyeongChang Games in a number of landmarks around Korea such as Seoul Square and Haeundae Beach in Busan.
The host cities and counties of PyeongChang and Gangneung will also host an Olympic-themed festival with cultural performances and local food for visitors.