 Attendants to the AIPS Congress pose at the COEX in southern Seoul, Wednesday. They are, from left, Kang Kwang-bae, sports director for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games Bid Committee; Teresa Rah, spokesperson of the committee; Cho Yang-ho, committee president; AIPS President Gianni Merlo; Jochen Farber, director of communication for Munich 2018 bid, and Charles Beigbeder, president of Annecy 2018. / Yonhap |
By Yoon Chul
PyeongChang claimed Wednesday a successful bid for the 2018 Winter Games will help create a new market in winter sports.
“We want to help promote the Olympic movement and spread winter sports to new regions of the world,” PyeongChang bid committee president Cho Yang-ho said in a presentation.
Cho made the statement in front of about 200 international sports journalists during the 74th International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Congress at the COEX in southern Seoul.
Head of Annecy bid committee and director of coomuncations for Munich 2018 bid also presented their blueprints for the Winter Games.
“Asia has hosted only two; and none in Korea. Hosting the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang will help to develop winter sport in new areas of the world,” another speaker Teresa Rah said.
Rah also offered supporting evidence, noting that Asia makes up about 43 percent of worldwide consumption.
Meantime, AIPS President Gianni Merlo appreciated PyeongChang’s bid for the Winter Olympics.
“Now it is not the moment yet to decide who is going to win the bid, we’ll know better in the coming two months. But I think PyeongChang is in a good position,” he said in an interview with The Korea Times.
“In the two previous bids PyeongChang was very close to a win, but only lost out in the final vote. I think you have a chance, so you must be confident.
“For the last two bids, there were too many heads speaking, and there was a lack of communication with each other but this time (bid committee president) Cho is doing well leading the bid committee. They seem to have had better communication, and better strategies,” Merlo said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will select the host city of the 2018 Winter Games during an IOC general meeting in Durban, South Africa on July 6.
The three cities’ presenters emphasized they will offer the best convenience to journalists. The represenatitve for each bidder said they will provide free Internet service in terms of compactness.
Meanwhile the German bid committee underlined the enthusiastic winter sports fans.
“We believe that in Munich we will have (we called it) a festival of friendships,” Jochen Farber, director of communications for the Munich bid committee said in an interview with The Korea Times.
“The spectators will cheer for athletes and we guarantee the full stadium.
“At the very end when they are about to cross the finish line then the spectators are there and cheering is very important factor to actually push the athletes to their limits,” Farber said.
He also explained the issue of the candidate site in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where some farmers and land owners still refuse to allow their land for the Winter Games.
“It’s almost solved,” he said.
Among approximately 60 landowners the bid committee’s biggest concern is one farmer’s land and he explained that after the alpine skiing world championships he had almost agreed with the committee.
“With that one person we are negotiating. We are quite sure (to get permission).”
“For the others this is not the area of field of play for the real sporting events. It is a place for parking or like, we called it functional area.”
Charles Beigbeder, president of Annecy 2018, emphasized that their best advantage lies on mountain.
“We will propose Winter Games in the mountains, at the heart of the mountains. That sounds a little funny but that is the strongest point (for us),” Beigbeder told The Korea Times.
All three bid committees plan to make two main clusters. Compared with PyeongChang and Munich, Annecy has a combined area for ice and snow events.
“The athletes want to be mixed,” he said.
He denied the allegation that the French bid committee has financial problems.
“Since January the government has been providing strong funding. Our budget is well enough to go to Durban. Any additional financial means will be a bonus.”
The head of Annecy also mentioned that even though Paris is likely to jump into the bid for the 2020 Summer Games, the French government’s first concern is Annecy’s bid.
The next official presentation for three bid committees will be made during the ONOC General Assembly from March 24 to 27 in New Caledonia where figure skating queen Kim Yu-na will more actively support PyeongChang’s bid.
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