New Leader for 2018 Winter Olympics

(ATR) Yang Ho Cho is the new president of the organizing committee for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang.

The leader of the third consecutive bid from South Korea now has a chance to deliver on the promises he made a few years ago when he campaigned for the Games.

Cho, 65, was elected to lead the organizing committee known as POCOG at its general assembly held in Seoul. The meeting was called to deal with the sudden vacancy created when Jin Sun Kim unexpectedly resigned two weeks ago.

Kim, former governor of Gangwon Province, led the first two bids from PyeongChang. He was chosen as president of the organizing committee soon after the South Korean mountain town was elected by the IOC in 2011. In his resignation Kim, 67, said it was time for new leadership.

Cho had been considered for the organizing committee post originally but a combination of business and political matters led to the decision to go with Kim, well-connected with the national government. Cho is chairman of the Hanjin Group, a major industrial firm in South Korea that includes Korean Air.

Cho is a VP of the table tennis federation in Korea and is a member of the board for the Korean Olympic Committee.

The businessman has good command of English and an amiable manner that served the bid well. He may be just what an organizing committee on the point of floundering needs. Staffing at the OCOG has been subject to continual change due to employment rules for government workers, a concern of the IOC, which is looking for continuity.

On the sponsor front, just two have been named with others said to be pending. Nonetheless, the quest for national sponsors of the 2018 Olympics is about a year behind schedule.

Cho the businessman may need to step in to get his colleagues in the private sector to come forward with sponsorships.

There is no word yet on what this will mean for Cho and his business ties. An airline sponsor is one of the categories which PyeongChang is trying to secure. Korean Air is a likely candidate but the ascension of Cho to POCOG president might complicate things.

Written by Ed Hula.