Tomba by video, flogging the PyeongChang bid. (ATR)(ATR) Italian ski great Alberto Tomba became a surprise spokesman for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics bid in the final presentation to the IOC Session in Guatemala City, devoid of the the same level of passion and emotion seen earlier in the day from Sochi and Salzburg.
Tomba, who has had no prior association with the bid, appeared only in a video, proclaiming PyeongChang’s suitability to host the Games. His appearance was one of a series of 12 videos that may have had the effect of stripping the human element from presentation.
Bid chairman Seung Soo Han opened the presentation, reflecting on the changes that have taken place since the unsuccessful bid for the 2010 Games.
“We have done our best to improve our plans,” said Han, before turning the program over to a series of speakers, some of whom have had little public involvement in the bid until today.
Bid president and Gangwon Province Governor Jin Sun Kim delivered his comments in English, remembering the narrow loss for 2010: “I cried, the people of PyeongChang cried” and the inspiration it provided to him and the rest of the team working on this latest bid.
Korean President Moo Hyun Roh spoke in Korean, the only one of the three heads of state who Jung Hyun Ahn, one of the live presenters for the PyeongChang bid.did not address the IOC in English.
Roh said that hosting the Games “is a long-standing aspiration of all Koreans”. Roh told the IOC that Korea, “one of the world’s last divided countries, will be a historical celebration, where the Olympic ideals of peace and harmony are realized”.
Other speakers included Jung Hyun Ahn, a TV presenter and bid communication director and Lee Kyung Chun, one of the bid’s leading athlete spokespersons. Other speakers included Korean Olympic Committee President Jung Gil Kim, Yong Kwan Jeon, development director of the bid and South Korea’s senior IOC member Kun Hee Lee.
Lee called the quest for the Olympics “one of the great challenges” of his career, said the Olympic Games “can help break down the wall between the two Koreas”.
Ilie Bria, a youngster from Moldova who participated in the Dream Program in PyeongChang, appeared briefly on stage to proclaim his thanks for the program, which introduced him to winter sports.
Prince Albert of Monaco posed the only question to the PyeongChang team, as he did with the Salzburg and Sochi, inquiring as to whether declining snow fall and rising temperatures were a concern of the bid. Communications director Ahn responded that typical weather conditions during the time planned for the Games were below freezing.
PyeongChang was the last of the three 2014 candidate cities to appear before the IOC Session. Sochi and Salzburg presented earlier in the day.
The IOC will begin its vote for the 2014 host city at 1530 Guatemala time, 2130 UTC/GMT.
PyeongChang Press Conference
At the press briefing which followed PyeongChang's presentation to the IOC, Chairman Seok Soo Han said the Korean team presented a strong bid.
"We have done our best and we are hopeful," he said.
"If PyeongChang is awarded the Games, we will use the seven-year build-up to make important progress in bringing North Korea and South Korea together."
Asked if he felt PyeongChang's pitch had relied too heavily on video content to convey the bid's core message, chairman Han said: "I think we had the right proportion of videos in the presentation."
A question also came on why Alberto Tomba, the Italian Alpine skier who earned five Olympic medals, was used as a bid ambassador in one of the videos.
While Tomba is an athlete ambassador for Samsung - a major backer of the Korean bid - it was strange that PyeongChang used an Italian and not any homegrown talent to communicate its message.
Chairman Han did not directly address the question of Tomba's involvement in the presentation. He said only that Tomba had read a lot about PyeongChang's preparations and had visited the Korean city to observe what the bid team was doing.
"He was happy we are making very good progress for a 2014 winter Games."
The PyeongChang panel was also asked if Korea could cope with staging the 2014 Olympics and the Asian Games in Daegu the same year.
"It demonstrates the enthusiasm of Korean people for sport," said Chairman Han. "In 2002, we hosted two major international events - the 2002 World Cup and Southeast Asian Games. We don't expect any problems."
On the scene coverage of the IOC 2014 decision continues throughout the day at www.aroundtherings.com.
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