ID :
193368
Wed, 07/06/2011 - 21:19
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https://oananews.org//node/193368
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South Korea's PyeongChang wins bid for 2018 Winter Olympics
(2nd LD) DURBAN, South Africa, July 6 (Yonhap) -- PyeongChang won the bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in a vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) here on Wednesday, succeeding in its third attempt to bring the Winter Games to South Korea for the first time.
In the secret ballot during the 123rd IOC session, PyeongChang earned 63 of the 95 votes cast in a landslide win, while Munich of Germany had 25 votes and Annecy of France had seven.
PyeongChang's bid officials said they successfully made an emotional appeal to IOC voters.
"I think we were able to move the hearts of IOC members with our presentation," said Cho Yang-ho, head of the bidding committee. "I feel that the emotional edge gave us the win, but I didn't expect such a large margin of victory. I was just hoping to get the majority."
President Lee Myung-bak gave the South Korean candidate a last-minute push, personally guaranteeing full support of the government in an English-language speech during PyeongChang's final bid presentation.
Kim Yu-na, the reigning Olympic champion in ladies' figure skating, also made a plea in the presentation as an honorary ambassador for PyeongChang. Following the announcement, the teary Kim said she was "delighted to be part of such a glorious moment."
"I am as happy today as I've ever been in competitions," Kim said. "So many people have done so much for the bid."
PyeongChang had narrowly lost two earlier bids, first to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 Games and then to Sochi of Russia for the 2014 edition. In both races, PyeongChang led after the first round but lost out in the second round when it failed to secure swing votes.
The last time an Olympic bid race with more than two candidates ended after one round of voting was in 1995, when Salt Lake City of the United States defeated three other candidates to win the right to host the 2002 Winter Games.
If no city had earned the majority, the candidate with the fewest votes would have been eliminated and the two remaining candidates would have gone to the second round.
The 2018 Winter Games will be the first in Asia since the 1998 Nagano Olympics in Japan, and the third overall in the continent.
This year, PyeongChang ran its campaign under the slogan "New Horizons." It kept hammering home the message that a Winter Games in South Korea would help promote and develop winter sports in a relatively new and yet lucrative market of Asia.
PyeongChang's bid also centered on a compact venue plan, with all facilities accessible within 30 minutes of each other.
The victory touched off wild celebrations in PyeongChang and neighboring towns in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, where tens of thousands of residents had started partying on streets in anticipation of the win.
In the secret ballot during the 123rd IOC session, PyeongChang earned 63 of the 95 votes cast in a landslide win, while Munich of Germany had 25 votes and Annecy of France had seven.
PyeongChang's bid officials said they successfully made an emotional appeal to IOC voters.
"I think we were able to move the hearts of IOC members with our presentation," said Cho Yang-ho, head of the bidding committee. "I feel that the emotional edge gave us the win, but I didn't expect such a large margin of victory. I was just hoping to get the majority."
President Lee Myung-bak gave the South Korean candidate a last-minute push, personally guaranteeing full support of the government in an English-language speech during PyeongChang's final bid presentation.
Kim Yu-na, the reigning Olympic champion in ladies' figure skating, also made a plea in the presentation as an honorary ambassador for PyeongChang. Following the announcement, the teary Kim said she was "delighted to be part of such a glorious moment."
"I am as happy today as I've ever been in competitions," Kim said. "So many people have done so much for the bid."
PyeongChang had narrowly lost two earlier bids, first to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 Games and then to Sochi of Russia for the 2014 edition. In both races, PyeongChang led after the first round but lost out in the second round when it failed to secure swing votes.
The last time an Olympic bid race with more than two candidates ended after one round of voting was in 1995, when Salt Lake City of the United States defeated three other candidates to win the right to host the 2002 Winter Games.
If no city had earned the majority, the candidate with the fewest votes would have been eliminated and the two remaining candidates would have gone to the second round.
The 2018 Winter Games will be the first in Asia since the 1998 Nagano Olympics in Japan, and the third overall in the continent.
This year, PyeongChang ran its campaign under the slogan "New Horizons." It kept hammering home the message that a Winter Games in South Korea would help promote and develop winter sports in a relatively new and yet lucrative market of Asia.
PyeongChang's bid also centered on a compact venue plan, with all facilities accessible within 30 minutes of each other.
The victory touched off wild celebrations in PyeongChang and neighboring towns in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, where tens of thousands of residents had started partying on streets in anticipation of the win.
