The Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which overseas PyeongChang’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, announced Tuesday the launch of “Drive the Dream”, a program designed to ensure the balanced development and improved competitiveness of Korean athletes in all winter sports on a global level.
The first phase of the program will run from 2008 to 2014 to try to extend the established Korean success in short track speed skating to other winter sports, securing South Korea’s place among leading winter sports nations, said PyeongChang 2014.
The program has three themes – Global excellence, to improve and maintain world class sporting competence; Balance Enrichment; to promote balanced development among winter sports; and Cultural Expansion, to expand winter sport throughout the nation.
Kim Jong-min, Minister of Culture and Tourism said, “the ‘Drive the Dream’ program is intended to increase further the interest in winter sports in Korea, providing opportunities for more young people than ever before to reach their full potential. We hope that those who have sufficient talent to compete at the top level will in turn inspire the next generation”.
Kim Jin-sun, Governor of Gangwon Province and Executive President of PyeongChang 2014 said, the program “is an important initiative to help Korean athletes reach the highest standards in all winter sports. If the 2014 Winter Games are held in PyeongChang we can be confident that Korean athletes will be pushing for medals in a wide range of disciplines. We are grateful to the Korean Government for their strong support for the bid”.
