So Korea is not to host the 2014 winter games. Beaten by Sochi in Russia. Cynics will say that the real winners from PyeongChang’s energetic campaign were CNN, who gave PyeongChang’s campaign global reach by screening the commercials (HT to Tom Coyner).
Despite the optimism (above), did Korea ever have a hope? A cutting article in the Asia Times says no. According to James Card there were a number of holes in PyeongChang’s arguments. Chief among them were
- lack of snow
- lack of apres-ski
- lack of decent ski runs
and the list goes on. Never having been there I can’t comment (though one day a visit to the Great Mountains Music Festival could be on the cards). But it’s puzzling that the article seems to think that it was the 2010 Winter Olympics which were up for grabs last week. He’s four years out of date, and his editor is asleep on the job.
For an interesting and lively account of the voting in Guatemala City from the Russian perspective, read the Kommersant article linked below. They mention irreverently the presence of a Moldovan youth in the Korean bid team. Also interesting is the account of the voting patterns. In the first round of voting PyeongChang led 36-34-25, and Salzburg was eliminated. In the second round, the votes for Austria had to be recast between Korea and Russia. The final vote was 51-47 to Sochi [1]. Most of the votes which had swung from Austria to Russia were American.
Links:
- PyeongChang: Melted dreams, Asia Times, 10 July 2007
- PyeongChang’s 2010 bid
- Russia Awarded Its First Winter Games, Associated Press, 5 July 2007
- Don’t Blame Roh for Pyeongchang’s Failure, Chosun, 6 July 2007
- Victory for Sochi, Kommersant (Russia’s daily online), 6 July 2007
- Photos at the BBC
- Why 3 more votes were cast in the second round than in the first is not explained[back]
2 Comments
The extra three votes belonged to Austrian IOC members who were precluded from voting in round 1
Ah, obvious when you think about it, which I didn’t
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