The bid team from PyeongChang, South Korea, was the last to present their 2014 Olympic bid to International Olympic Committee members at the Westin Camino Real in Guatemala City today.
As promised previously by the bid committee, PyeongChang 2014 relied heavily on emotion to deliver its message to IOC members. Filled with stories, images and creativity – the presentation was both entertaining and riveting.
Perhaps the most imaginative segment of the three presentations was a simulated “live interview” with Italian alpine Skiier Alberto Tomba who appeared on video to interact with the live presenter. He visited venues that have not yet been built and enjoyed facilities that would exist in 2014.
But the bid committee dispensed with technicalities early in the presentation and quickly moved to more emotional elements that surrounded the themes of: “the Games for the next generation”, “expanding winter sports across asia”, and “peace and harmony”.
Much time was spent on PyeongChang’s “Dream Program”, a fulfillment of a promise made to the IOC during the 2010 Olympic bid campaign that brings children from countries without snow to PyeongChang where they can experience winter sports for the first time. In fact, one such athlete who went on to compete at the Turin Olympics was on-hand to tell his story.
The committee made a new promise; to keep up the Dream Program and introduce a new World Youth Winter Sports Festival in future years.
Through the 2014 Games, PyeongChang hopes to spread winter sports throughout Asia by adding 100 million new athletes.
Kim Jin-Sun, Governor of Gangwon Province and Chairman of the bid helped tell a heart-wrenching story of a woman who was separated from her son during the Korean War. His goal is to use the Games to create Peace and Harmony on the Korean Peninsula.
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun spoke only in Korean toward the end of the presentation followed by the President of the Korean Olympic Committee, Lee Kun-hee.
Of the three presentations, PyeongChang’s drew the most emotional response – but lacked some of the hard details that many of the IOC members may be interested in. But in an election where the results are based more on the “human factor” as described by IOC President Jacques Rogge – maybe PyeongChang hit the mark.
