It will be near midnight in Korea on July 2 when International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announces the winner of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games bid – but that won’t put a damper on planned celebrations. In PyeongChang, Gangneung, Wonju, Hwangsang, Chongson, and in the Provincial Capitol Square in Chuncheon, festivities have been planned for an anticipated 50,000 attendees who will enjoy a candlelight parade, local musical performers and a fireworks display.
“There are no tickets being sold, and no obscene amounts of money being spent on lavish entertainment for the celebration” according to a Pyeongchang 2010 source.
“All preparations have been made. Although the final vote will be near midnight in Korea, we expect that most of our citizens will be watching the broadcast.”
The festivities in Seoul, Prague, Yongpyong, and Chuncheon will be broadcast on national televsion across South Korea and attendees at the celebrations will be able to see the events in other locations on big screen televisions.
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Two “Netizens” won’t have to watch the events on television. Kim Hyun-ah and Park Jae-min won a draw from among 5,400 other PyeongChang Internet supporters to accompany the official 230-person delegation to Prague.
“I think our works have facilitated PyeongChang’s bid a little bit,” Kim said to the Korean Times.
Their free six-day trip will culminate on election day.
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Korean President Roh Moo-hyun supported Korea’s bid yesterday by suggesting “…it will be the best, biggest and most successful Winter Games the world has ever seen if Pyeongchang wins.”
“We will do everything we can to make these Games the most successful Games in the history of the Olympic movement,” Roh told the media in Korea.
In general Koreans are very good at having the last laugh,” Roh quipped.
