PyeongChang is a county in Gangwon province, South Korea and the third largest county in the country. It is located in the Taebaek Mountains region, and is home to a number of Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. The county is around 180 km to the east of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
PyeongChang's bid is ‘considered to be the one to beat’
This is the county’s third consecutive bid
The IOC will announce the candidate cities on 21 June 2010
On 15 October 2009 PyeongChang was announced as an applicant city in the bidding process for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Annecy, France and Munich, Germany also are applicant cities. PyeongChang's bid is ‘considered to be the one to beat’. This is the county’s third consecutive bid and would become the first time the Winter Games were held in Asia since the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan and the first time in another Asian country. Additionally, Munich and Annecy's bids may be hampered by having the previous Winter Olympic Games held in Sochi, Russia that is also in Europe.
The three applicant cities for the 2018 Games represent a considerable decrease on the seven that put forward bids at the same stage for the 2014 event. Following a review and evaluation of the bid cities' applicant files, the IOC will announce the candidate cities for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on 21 June 2010.
PyeongChang 2018 co-chairman Jin-Sun Kim has revealed it has strengthened its offering to the IOC for the Winter Games by adding "significant investment" in infrastructure and venue improvements. Kim's comments came as PyeongChang 2018's Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Bid Committee in March 2010 held a signing ceremony to mark the completion of its IOC Applicant File. The IOC applicant city questionnaire was issued in 2009 and the deadline to submit the applicant file to the IOC was 15 March.
Kim said: "We are delighted to illustrate why we believe PyeongChang 2018 is an ideal partner for the IOC. We want to show that we have worked tirelessly to keep our promises to the IOC, and have advanced our technical bid plan with significant investment in infrastructure and venue improvements. Our Applicant File highlights how PyeongChang 2018 will offer the Olympic Movement the most compact and efficient Games Plan in Olympic Winter Games history." Co-chairman Yang-Ho Cho added: "We are proud to submit our Applicant File to the IOC and highlight PyeongChang's vision to help expand winter sports internationally, and connect the Olympic Movement with millions of new, young hearts and minds across the Asian region."
PyeongChang 2018’s Applicant File includes the following legacy aims of hosting the event in the county:
Principal motivation
Promoting the Olympic ideals and creating Olympic legacies
The 1988 Seoul Olympic Games allowed Korea to actively contribute to the IOC’s vision of promoting the Olympic Movement’s values throughout the world. The Seoul Games also gave the country the opportunity to experience first-hand the powerful impact of Olympic legacies. In this respect, PyeongChang, and Korea as a whole, look excitedly forward to building on what was started in 1988, spreading the Olympic Movement even further and creating even more sustainable Olympic legacies as the 2018 Host City.
Developing winter sports in Asia
Whilst participation in winter sports is still lower in Asia than in other continents, it is growing at a significant pace. PyeongChang is fast becoming a popular world-class winter sports destination and winter sports are becoming more popular among the 1bn Asian people living within a two-hour flight distance to PyeongChang. The winter sports market in Asia is a youthful and rapidly growing one compared to the European market, and PyeongChang 2018 is committed to making all-out efforts to see winter sports realise their full potential in the region.
Facilitating the sports and tourism belt in PyeongChang
The national government and provincial government have devised a plan to develop the PyeongChang area into a year-round ‘Sports and Tourism Belt’ equipped with recreational sports facilities, resorts and industries. This plan will dramatically improve the economy of the city and hosting the 2018 Winter Games will serve as a catalyst for continued growth in the region.
Benefits of the bid
Fostering winter sports and expanding winter sports facilities
PyeongChang’s previous two bids for the Winter Games boosted interest and participation in winter sports among Koreans including PyeongChang residents. The bids also played a pivotal role in enabling expansion of winter sports facilities and infrastructure. Since PyeongChang’s first bid for the Winter Games in 2001, 17 new professional winter sports teams were created, and four large-scale winter sports facilities including the $1.4bn Alpensia Resort, Hansol Oak Valley, High 1 Resort and O2 Resort. These developments clearly show that PyeongChang kept the promises it made to the IOC in previous bids.
Spreading winter sports to youth worldwide
PyeongChang has been operating the Dream Programme since 2004, a programme through which youths from around the globe are invited to PyeongChang to experience winter sports and Korean culture. To date a total of 806 youths from 42 countries have visited PyeongChang. This vital programme will continue to be operated and expanded regardless of the 2018 Host City decision.
Benefits of hosting the Olympic Winter Games
Promoting balanced development of winter sports
Korea boasts world-class competence in short track speed skating, speed skating and figure skating, but it is weaker in alpine, Nordic and sliding events. The national government is striving to solve this problem by putting into place its winter sports development plan, Drive the Dreams. PyeongChang’s hosting of the Winter Games will give great momentum to this plan and provide an excellent opportunity for Korea to achieve more balanced development of winter sports.
Boosting regional development
Improved transport infrastructure, along with constructed Olympic venues and PyeongChang’s experience of hosting the Olympic Winter Games will help the city rise to become an Asian winter sports and tourism hub. This will in turn boost the local economy and development in culture, tourism and industry in PyeongChang and its surrounding vicinity.
Growing the winter sports industry in Asia
The winter sports population in Asian nations including Korea has been growing consistently year after year. The 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang would increase interest and participation even further, expanding the Asian winter sports market and its industries.
Establishing a model of sustainability
PyeongChang 2018 intends to fully implement its ‘Green Plan’ in all areas of Winter Games preparation and operation. PyeongChang has been designated a ‘Low-Carbon Green Growth Model City’ by the national government, and plans are in place to see the city fully live up to this designation. PyeongChang’s focus on sustainability—which carries with it far-reaching benefits beyond the Games—will inspire other cities globally to take similar initiatives to safeguard our increasingly fragile Earth.
Promoting peaceful cooperation between the two Koreas
The Olympics have encouraged various exchanges and cooperations in sports and other areas between the two Koreas, such as the joint entrance of the South and North Korean teams at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. PyeongChang’s hosting of the 2018 Winter Games will further the cooperative relationship.
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