The Boston Globe says Pyeongchang is the favorite to host the 2014 Winter Games.
The New York Times’ George Vecsey, meanwhile, threw his support behind Pyeongchang (registration required)— unlike many cities, Pyeongchang actually wants to host the games. Yonhap has a Korean summary of the piece.
The quote of Guatemala, however, goes to Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer:
The sarcasm fairly dripped from Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer’s voice as he pointed to the ice rink Russia has assembled to promote Sochi’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
“This is a good symbol of how our friends in Russia understand environment—putting a skating facility in a country with a temperature of almost 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit),” Gusenbauer told the Tribune as he walked through Guatemala City Tuesday afternoon. “This already indicates how they will handle the environment in Sochi.”
Here’s the pro’s and con’s of Pyeongchang’s bid, courtesy AP:
Pros: Positive report from IOC evaluation committee; legacy offered by regeneration of East Asian winter sports; promotion of peace with North Korea; all facilities to be finished by 2009; strong support from South Korean government and people; all venues within 30 minutes of each other; substantial investments in rail transport infrastructure.
Cons: Lack of name value and awareness; relatively remote.
I don’t think name value and awareness count for much — I’d never heard of Lillehammer or Nagano, either, before they hosted the Winter Games. Remoteness, however, might be a concern — Pyeongchang, truth be told, isn’t the easiest place to get to in the Republic of Korea, although Korea’s bid contains plans to upgrade transportation to the city, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. And at any rate, you can tell how serious the city is about hosting the games — they even have pretty white girls doing the welcoming on the city’s English-language website!
I think the biggest danger for Pyeongchang, actually, is that Korea’s has been on a roll with hosting international sporting events. Incheon has the 2014 Asian Games, while Daegu gets the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. That’s a full plate, and I wonder if the IOC is willing to give Korea even more.
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I’m rooting for Pyeongchang because I’ve heard from numerous Korean politicians and Olympic organizers that if they are awarded the games, that there will finally be a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. Apparently the presence of lugers and snowboarders will turn Kim Jong Il into Jimmy Carter, and he will immediately disband the North Korean military and turn over all of his WMD’s to the UN.
So if you fail to support Pyeongchang, you’re obviously a war-loving genocidal asshole. And I’d rather not have that on my resume.
Pyeongchang Whiting! Let’s hope all the thick white envelopes were slipped under the right doors!
actually, i’m worried that there won’t be any snow.
I am sure it will work. They held a kut at the Danoje festival in Gangneung, so the Olympic Committee can expect a visit by some Choseon generals any time soon.
It would be a shame of all the billboards and posters they covered the countryside with, though, if they don’t make it…
I don’t think “because Koreans want to host the games” is a strong argument in their favor. If Korea had its way it would host every single international event every time.
Prior to Vancouver winning the bid last time, they actually had a referendum on hosting the games or not… honest debate on the pros and cons of hosting an event is a good sign that the potential host cities are actually serious about doing the event.
Koreans routinely jump around and wave whenever a international event is up in the air… it’s all a big ego trip for them, which I don’t consider to be a valid reason for wanting to host the games.
Reasons against:
1. Rampant nationalism. Korean press coverage of the sporting events will leave you to wonder if any nations other than Korea are participating. (Not that U.S. Olympic coverage is any better.)
2. Lack of fairness in judging. Remember Roy Jones?
3. Putting on another meaningless show (a la the rail tests) by presenting a unified team with North Korea.
4. The inevitable bribe scandal surfacing somewhere down the line.
No thanks, I’ve had enough.
LOL. I like the promotion of peace with North Korea quote.
What does that mean, exactly ? Shoveling as much money as possible into Kim Jong-Il’s pockets without any reciprocity ?
I wonder how much Kim Jong-Il is being bribed to behave nicely in 2014 ?
ROK : We’d like to have a party with guests. Do you think you can hold the noise down ?
DPRK : I don’t know…I might get drunk and want to launch missiles or detonate really big bombs in 2014.
ROK : *sigh* How many Sae-Jong Dae Wangs (세종대왕) will it take for you to behave nicely for our guests ?
DPRK : I don’t know…how many do you have ? Oh, and I call dibs on all drug sales. Just ignore those old ships pulling into yours ports and unloading strange packages.
ROK : (grits teeth and bends over) OK, fine, just get it over with…
DPRK : (censored)
Peace on the peninsula !
5. Global warming. Korea doesn’t get much snow as it is. By 2014, the snow conditions will be pretty erratic, I fear.
“I think the biggest danger for Pyeongchang, actually, is that Korea’s has been on a roll with hosting international sporting events. ”
Yeah, there is the risk that these events will cannibalize one another for tourists, domestic and foreign.
“I wonder how much Kim Jong-Il is being bribed to behave nicely in 2014 ?”
Considering how he blew up an South Korean airliner in advance of the 1988 Games, I’d say getting him to be in his best behavior won’t come cheap.
In this story the online betting agency William Hill says Pyeongchang is the “odds-on favourites”:
http://sport.independent.co.uk.....725668.ece
As far as my calculations have it.. the announcement is live tomorrow at 8am (that’s Thursday, July 5th at 8:00am).
From what I read there is also a live webcast of the announcment from http://www.olympic.org.
Winter Olympics in Korea. Hmm. What happens if Apolo Ohno wins the gold medal in [whatever sport that is he competes in]? How does he get out of Korea? Helicopter service?
Ross Perot hires retires SAS troopers to drop in and get him to a fast boat at Gangneung.
hires
I don’t see any reason Pyeongchang shouldn’t host the games. Good luck to them.
Go Pyeongchang!
I have nothing against Pyeongchang’s bid, but I have to admit it was pretty wild to hear them praying for it at Mass at 명동대성당 last month (during the Oratio Universalis/보편 지향 기도/General Intercessions).
The prayer was awfully specific: it mentioned the IOC, the meeting date, and the location. Guess they didn’t want God to mess up and intervene at that OTHER Olympic meeting.
Depending on the opening ceremony, a Pyeongchang Games could finally give the singer Rain the world audience he craves.
Ut Videam,
Mmm, looks to me like this is the case of praying for a sure thing so that the preacher can claim to be able to conjure divine intervention.
‘can claim being able to’
(makes that sentence a little less awkward).
#19 - Nah, we Catholics generally don’t fall into that trap. What surprised me was seeing the 우리 나라 fever on such blatant display there.
“pretty white girls”??
One of those girls was very pretty. The other one seems to have managed the traditional Korean “oh, here’s the camera” grim visage.
“Nah, we Catholics generally don’t fall into that trap.”
I was joking.
In any case, they fall of other things. I’ve heard plenty of stories from my father about how priests used to tell his parishioners how they should vote in the elections…and the people actually did as they were told.
Couple of points of interests…
@ Whitey
1. ^^ Rampant nationalism are often associated with hosting an international sporting event. And as you point out yourself, the phenomenon is universal. (I actually like Ohno. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to watch any of the short-track events in 2002 and 2006)
2. Of course, question of fairness in judging has always been an issue in an Olympics game. Rather a non-unique issue, if you’d ask me, and not a strong argument against PC’s candidacy (as both Salzburg and Sochi would have the same problem)
3. I actually like those gestures towards unification. Couldn’t be a step backwards, right?
4. Once again, not quite a Con against PC, as every candidate city would have this problem (observed historically, of course).
Robert is quite right. The biggest weakness Pyeongchang has is that Korea’s already hosting a lot of international sporting event, rather than the obscurity factor.
Oh, I hope PC does get it. ^^ How perfect is it that the announcement comes on July 4th (for me, at least… Local time in AZ would be 4 PM today!) Watch the Olympics announcement, then off for fireworks and bbq
bumofkorea,
Sure.
Quick, what was the name of that town in Japan that hosted the games a few years ago?
Better yet…Where were the last Winter Games held?
You had to think about it for a sec, right?
Had you ever heard of the towns before? I hadn’t.
Nagano, though Sapporo was the first.
Um… Torino, Italy.
As a winter sports enthusiast, yes. I have heard of these cities.
Now… what was the point of these inquiries?
I think the biggest danger is an environment issue around the region. The winter olympic will definitely ruin the region and Baekdudeagan despite of the committee’s PR claim. Pyeongchang shouldn’t host the game.
congratulations sochi!
while i feel bad for the people of PC, i thought the short presentation given by PC was very weak. other cities showcased the environment, the city, the people, but PC just showed korean athletes and just waved the korean flag. i think that was a big mistake. oh well.
First Kobayashi loses and now PC falls. This is the worst 4th of July ever.
And also Putin’s surprise speech in Eng. & Fr. might helped …… Congrats to Sochi as well!!!!
THere goes the last hope for peace on the Korean peninsula. Head for the bunkers, people.
Besides the NK aspect, this one is a real bummer. I can’t really imagine that I’ll be living in Russia in 2014 . . .