He may be trying to do that:
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....d=15027396

Here’s something on Sochi residents’ divided attitudes toward the games:

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....ines-world

Yes, they will.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....ef=si_more

“The government of Gangwon province, to which Pyeongchang belongs, said it made the decision because it needs a “growth engine” for the province, and it expects unspecified “more favorable conditions” in the next bid.”

Sadly and scarily, Putin is already trumpeting this as “a judgement on our country”. For all we know, this thug may still be Russia’s president in 2014.

I went and saw Spain and Slovenia play in Gwangju in 2002. Maybe around 25 000 in a 42 000 seat venue. In what I suspect was contrary to official FIFA ticketing policy, there were lots of blue collar employees of a certain construction company papering the 1st class section. Overall, for the most part, if a game didn’t involve Korea, most people here didn’t seem to care all that much. I can appreciate the fact that people were excited about the Korean team - so was I - but a lot of great players and teams were largely ignored.

“Vancouver’s got so much more going for it than Pyeongchang, like a nearby international airport, two world-class ski resorts, well developed infrastructure, plenty of hotels, etc, etc, etc”

Exactly. Throw in a 60 000 seat dome stadium (BC Place) for opening/closing ceremonies, two 17 000 + capacity arenas (GM Place and Pacific Coliseum, for hockey and figure skating respectively), and a genuine cosmopolitan vibe and it gives one an idea of how far removed Pyeongchang was from Vancouver.

I would have picked Pyeongchang over Sochi, and I don’t blame Koreans for being unhappy about the vote. Sometimes you get outbribed - ooops, I mean outbid. Plus, Korea having gotten a bunch of other events certainly didn’t help the cause.

Too bad Salzburg ran such a crappy bid. It would have been a great place to see the Olympics. Beautiful natural scenery, nice architecture, excellent beer…

Anyway, in regards to the case I am familiar with, lots of things complicated it and I read some complaints about Korea’s ban on tobacco advertising…since tobacco companies have been known to sponsor such events or something like that.

I could talk more about this later in a more appropriate thread…just found F1 the link interesting/surprising, that’s all. I agree, it’d be great for Korea if it worked out with F1 but it’s always run into problems in the past…

http://www.motorauthority.com/.....from-2010/

Puchin has oil. Anyway, maybe not that bad too lose against Russia. Better to have a clean image rather than later, to be exposed of bribes.

Plus, I don’t think Busan is too disapointed, as if anything, with their bid for the 2020 summer games, they would have had no shot if Pyeongchang won. Now, their chances just went up.