Olympic Winter Games 2018 Go To Pyeongchang, South Korea
Pyeongchang in South Korea will host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. The Asian town won against Munich, Germany and Annecy, France in the first round of voting. Olympic Winter Games will be held in Asia for the third time. The city with a population of 48,000 lies in the northeastern part of the country.
It was the third try for the South Korean host city. In 2010 it lost to Vancouver and in 2014 it came in second behind Sochi, Russia. Japan hosted the Winter Games twice: 1972 in Sapporo and 1998 in Nagano.
In its closing presentation the South Korean delegation said that it had been trying hard to offer the Olympic movement a perfect organization. After two narrow defeats they had deserved to win.
Most of the members of the International Olympic Committee were in favor of Pyeongchang not only because it had lost twice but because they felt that winter sports should become more popular in Asia.
South Korea has become a big medal winner of Olympic Winter Games. In the last Olympics in Vancouver the country won 14 medals and ranked 5th. It has many top figure and speed skaters . Skiing and other winter sports, however, are not very popular in South Korea.
Pyeongchang has offered the IOC a great overall concept with 13 sites . Athletes will be able to reach all of the venues in less than 30 minutes. In addition , a new high-speed rail connection from Seoul will bring visitors from the international airport to the games.
The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang will cost about $1.5 billion dollars. Billions more are to be invested in infrastructure . But South Korea expects a boost in its economy because of the millions of tourists that will visit the country and two weeks of worldwide media coverage .
South Korea has already proven that it can host big sport events. Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics and together with Japan the country was host to the 2002 football World Cup.
Related Topics
Words
- athlete = sportsperson , member of a sports team
- billion = a thousand million
- boost = to go up
- closing = final
- defeat = to lose, not win
- figure skating = when you move in patterns of the ice
- host = organize
- in addition = also
- in favor of = to be for something
- infrastructure = the basic things that a country needs, like roads, schools, hospitals, trains etc..
- media coverage = here: the events will be in the news; on TV, the radio and Internet
- movement = people who have the same aim and beliefs
- offer = give
- overall = here: complete
- population = the people in a city
- prove = show
- rail connection = railroad line
- rank = to have a position
- speed skating = to race on ice around an oval track
- venue = place where an event takes place