2018 Pyeongchang president hopes Olympics will raise profile of winter sports in Asia

Record ID: 79547

  • Title: 2018 Pyeongchang president hopes Olympics will raise profile of winter sports in Asia
  • Date: 9th November 2016
  • Summary: PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA (NOVEMBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) CONSTRUCTION WORK AT ALPINE SKIING VENUE ALPINE SKIING VENUE
  • Embargoed: 24th November 2016 11:03
  • Keywords: Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Hee-Beom Lee Kim Yuna
  • Location: PYEONGCHANG AND SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • City: PYEONGCHANG AND SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA00457Q3YNZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: For figure skating fans Kim Yuna was one of a kind.
    Not according to the chief of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
    "We have many more Kim Yunas," laughed former government minister and 2018 organising boss Lee Hee-beom in an interview with Reuters.
    "Kim Yuna was a heroine for the younger generation," Lee said. "But we have many more ... we have the second and third Kim Yunas.
    "With the 2018 Winter Olympics we will have the fourth and fifth, and many more heroes and heroines in winter sports."
    Lee's claim is a tantalising prospect for winter sport's fans both in Korea and the world over.
    Kim was a trailblazer who single-handedly raised the profile of winter sports in her homeland and gave the country its first Olympic figure skating gold in Vancouver in 2010 which she followed with silver in Sochi in 2014.
    While short-track and speed skating account for 25 of South Korea's 26 Winter Games gold medals, Kim's captivating performance in Canada brought the country to a standstill and gave rise to a generation of skaters, skiers and sliders.
    South Korea will host Asia's first Winter Games outside Japan from Feb. 9-25 in 2018 -- in less than 460 days.
    The coastal city of Gangue will be used for the figure skating, curling, ice hockey, speed and short-track skating events, while the alpine town of Pyeongchang will stage mountain events such as skiing, sliding and Nordic events.
    "Even though Pyeongchang is 400-odd days away our feeling is that 2018 is right around the corner," said Lee, adding that all venues would be ready in time for the 26 test events to be held in the next few months.
    Major infrastructure projects, including a high speed rail link that will cut travel time between Incheon airport and Pyeongchang to 90 minutes, were also on track, Lee added.
    The former trade, industry and energy minister said POCOG was working hard to raise the global profile of Pyeongchang, an alpine town some 180 kilometres east of the capital Seoul.
    "Unlike the Summer Olympics, the Winter Games are usually held in mountain clusters, so in that sense Pyeongchang is not very well known around the world, like Seoul or London or Tokyo," conceded Lee.
    To help raise Pyeongchang's profile, Lee said POCOG was focusing on promotion in Japan, which will host the next Olympics in Tokyo 2020, and China, which hosts the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
    "We had a sports ministers meeting in Pyeongchang at the end of September between Japan, China and Korea," said Lee.
    "(IOC) President Thomas Bach was also there and he announced that in the sports arena, this is the era of Asia."
    Lee also said he expected Russian athletes to be at the games, despite threats of a suspension if widespread doping at Sochi is found proven.
    "As you know during the 1988 Olympic games, 160 countries including Russia and Eastern European countries, participate in the 1988 Olympics games, like the summer Olympic games we hope, we expect, we trust that all the countries will participate in the Pyeongchang Olympic games including Russia and the rest of the world, I have no doubt about that," he said.
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