Invest KOREA

The 2018 Winter Olympics bidding committee for the South Korean town of PyeongChang announced Monday that it will present its case before international sports journalists set to gather here for an annual congress.

   The committee said its officials will give a 15-minute presentation on Wednesday during the 74th International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Congress in Seoul. The annual event kicks off Tuesday and will wrap up on Friday.

   The Korean Sports Press Union will host the meeting at COEX in southern Seoul. The AIPS said 263 delegates from 126 nations will be on hand.

   According to the PyeongChang bidding committee, its rivals, Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France, will also have 15 minutes each for their presentations. Munich will go first, followed by Annecy and then PyeongChang, starting at 4 p.m.

   Cho Yang-ho, head of the bidding committee; Kang Kwang-bae, a four-time Olympian and the committee's sports director; and Theresa Rah, the committee's spokeswoman, will be the presenters, the committee said. It will be PyeongChang's first presentation to an international audience since the on-site inspection by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February.

   "This will be the first AIPS Congress in Asia in 24 years and international sports journalists will be here," noted Cho, who is also the chairman of the local conglomerate Hanjin Group. "We want to do our best to present the key message of promoting winter sports in Asia, and also show that PyeongChang is ready and that we have compact plans for the Games."

   PyeongChang is scheduled to give other presentations on the international stage through April and May, including the official bid city briefing at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on May 18-19.

   PyeongChang came up short in its two previous bids, first against Vancouver, Canada, and Sochi, Russia. The host city will be decided at the IOC General Assembly on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

   At the AIPS meeting, South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na will give a welcoming speech during the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Kim's agency said Monday. Kim is an honorary ambassador for PyeongChang's bid.

   "We hope Kim Yu-na can help promote the excellence of Korean winter sports and help PyeongChang's Olympic bid before international sports journalists," an official from All That Sports said.

   Kim arrived home Sunday from her training camp in Los Angeles and is scheduled to perform at ice shows here in May and August. She was scheduled to perform at the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo this week, but the event has been postponed indefinitely following a devastating earthquake and the subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan earlier this month.

   Kim said on Sunday that during her stay here, she will concentrate on serving as the honorary ambassador for PyeongChang. Other honorary ambassadors for PyeongChang include Lee Seung-hoon, who won the men's 10,000-meter speed skating race at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and Hwang Young-jo, the men's marathon champion at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.

Source: Yonhap News (March 21, 2011)