PyeongChang Olympic bid committee leaves for IOC vote

A delegation for PyeongChang's 2018 Winter Olympics bidding committee on Friday left for Durban, South Africa, the site of the vote to determine the host city. Choung Byoung-gug, minister of culture, sports and tourism, headlined the team for the South Korean alpine town, which is bidding for the third time. PyeongChang will be up against Munich, Germany and Annecy, France in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote next Wednesday. Cho Yang-ho, head of the bid committee, and Park Yong-sung, president of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC), were part of the advance team that gave a bid presentation at the meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Togo earlier this week. They're scheduled to join the rest of the bidding committee on Saturday. In a statement released by the bid committee, Cho said hosting the Winter Olympics will "complete the history of the Olympics in our country." "We've been working hard to make sure we will get the Games this time," Cho said. South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. "We will return the love and support of the people by winning our bid," Cho added. Choung said PyeongChang's bid has been "flawless" so far but the important work only begins now. "We're neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic," the minister said. "Until the moment of the vote, we will reach out to each and every IOC member." PyeongChang has built its case on offering a compact, athlete-friendly Olympics, with all venues accessible within 30 minutes of each other. It has also argued that Asia is due for a Winter Olympics and that a Winter Games here would further promote winter sports across the continent. Japan remains the only Asian country to have hosted the Winter Olympics -- in Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998. PyeongChang has brought in Kim Yu-na, an Olympic figure skating champion, as an honorary ambassador. She has been traveling with bid officials to give presentations before international audiences. The South Korean candidate has received a positive review from the IOC Evaluation Commission following its visit in February. PyeongChang lost to Vancouver in the race for the 2010 Games and to Sochi in the 2014 bid. There are 110 vote-wielding IOC members, but those from candidate cities' countries plus IOC President Jacques Rogge are ineligible to vote. Some members have missed IOC meetings in the past for various reasons. Rogge can only vote in case of a tie in the final round of balloting. If no candidate wins the outright majority in the first round, then the top two cities will move into the second round. PyeongChang had led the first round in each of the two previous bids only to lose its advantage in the next round.