Pyeongchang favourite to secure 2018 Winter Olympics
The South Korean city of Pyeongchang is hopeful that, at the third time of asking, it will prevail and win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
South Koreans has twice finished runners-up when bidding to host the Winter Olympics - to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi for 2014 - and are waiting to see if at last they have convinced the electorate of 100+ International Olympic Committee (IOC) members that they can host the Games.
Victory in the bid, being held in Durban, South Africa on Wednesday, would see Asia host the Winter Games for the first time since 1998 in Nagano, the second time Japan had hosted them.
In doing so they must see off the increasingly strong German candidate Munich, bidding to become the first venue to host both the Summer and Winter Games, and the French alpine town Annecy.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak is in Durban has come to lend his support to the bid, pledging that Pyeongchang will become a winter sports hub for all of Asia if its bid is successful.
President Lee explained "if we win the bid it is not just about Korea. It is our vision, our aspiration of becoming a mecca for winter sports.
"I consider it as a duty and a mission to deliver this for Asia. I want more people in Asia to enjoy winter sports. (Unlike Europe and the United States) people in Asia have not had that opportunity."
President Lee said the Games and the subsequent influx of tourists would boost the region's economy. Bid officials have said an estimated one billion people live within a two-hour flight radius.
He added "if we succeed what we can expect is that the regional economy will be vastly revitalised. Today in Korea and other countries in the region we see the most robust growth. This trend will continue."
Pyeongchang has by far the biggest budget for non-Games infrastructure projects from all three bidders, including a US$3 billion high-speed rail link connecting the capital Seoul and its international airport with Pyeongchang.
PyeongChang has been considered as the favourite by many observers, but IOC President Jacques Rogge referred to the 1994 bid race as an example of how the form guide can be misleading.
Rogge told AFP "You have to fight until the end "I always take the battle for the 1994 Winter Olympics as an example. Everybody viewed Ostersund (in Sweden) as the unstoppable force, and they were candidates for the fifth or sixth time. But it was Lillehammer (in Norway) who won and delivered a fabulous Olympics. At a certain moment they created the right chemistry in their bid, and that can even come on the final day."
22nd February 2011 - PYEONGCHANG WINTER GAMES BID PRAISED BY IOC
6th January 2011 - PYEONGCHANG BOOSTS WINTER GAMES BID COMMITTEE
23rd June 2010 - PYEONGCHANG, ANNECY & MUNICH MAKE 2018 WINTER GAMES SHORTLIST
