It was that close. Pyeongchang South Korea, the city that most Olympic watchers considered last in the three-way race for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, almost pulled an upset to become the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. But Vancouver pulled it off in the end.
Even Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien called it a “photo finish”. He added, “that’s what is so great about sport. But winning is winning”.
Several members didn’t vote for some reason, and the IOC said it didn’t know why. Had they, the outcome might have been very different.
Still many say Pyeongchang has a good chance of winning the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Following the announcement the bid committee’s executive president Kim Jin-sun told reporters, “we would like to thank the IOC members who voted for us with the recognition that Pyeongchang can leave a great legacy for the Winter Olympic Games. Also I would like (to) express my appreciation to those who sincerely supported our bid and I want to express my heartfelt apology (for not winning)”, he said.
Kim Jin-sun said since Pyeongchang decided to bid “we’ve achieved a result of promoting Pyeongchang’s value as a hidden treasure of winter sports in a very short period of time. We did our best with the strong support of the people and the government of South Korea”.
He added, “taking advantage of the increased publicity, we will bid once more to host Winter Olympics”.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sent a message to Prague to comfort the Korean delegation.
He said in the message, “unfortunately our bid for the Winter Olympics failed, but it gave us a confidence that we can do too. I thank (you) for all your efforts so far”.
Several hours before the decision was announced The Korea Times newspaper prematurely posted an article on its Web site proclaiming that Pyeongchang had won the bid, quoting several bid officials.
On Thursday the newspaper issued an apology, saying the article was intended as a practice run for page design purposes that somehow found its way onto the Web site before the decision was made. An investigation is underway. The newspaper also apologized to its readers.
