PyeongChang Winter Games organizers launch separate entity for test events

The organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang said Monday they have launched a separate entity to operate test events.  Tentatively named "PyeongChang Winter Series Foundation," the new entity will work closely with representatives of PyeongChang and national federations for winter sports, the organizing committee said in a statement.  In its inaugural meeting earlier Monday, the foundation elected Cho Yang-ho, head of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizing committee, as its ex o

March 16, 2015

Prime minister calls for thorough prep for 2018 Winter Games

Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo on Friday called for thorough preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea, saying those involved must resolve outstanding issues and focus on the task at hand.Lee presided over a meeting on providing governmental support for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, an alpine town some 180 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Province. During the meeting, Bokwang Snow Park was selected as the venue for snowboard and freestyle skiing event.Operators o

March 13, 2015

PyeongChang to form joint working group with IOC to speed up Olympic prep

The South Korean organizers of the 2018 Winter Games said Sunday they will form a joint task force with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to "expedite" their decision-making process.In a statement, the organizing committee for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics said the agreement was reached during the IOC Executive Board meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, local time. The joint body will be called the "Integration Working Group."According to the committee, the joint working group

March 1, 2015

Park asks S. Korean firms to sponsor PyeongChang Winter Olympics

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday asked South Korea's top business leaders to actively sponsor the country's first-ever Winter Olympics to be held in 2018 as part of efforts to stage a successful competition.  "We urgently need the interest and assistance of the business community for a successful PyeongChang Winter Olympics," Park said in a meeting with about two dozen leaders, including Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., and Chung Eui-son, vice chairman at Hyundai Motor G

Feb. 24, 2015

Organizers for 2018 Winter Games to commemorate three-year countdown

The organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort town of PyeongChang said Friday they will hold a commemorative event marking the three-year countdown of the competition.  The Winter Games organizing committee said the three-hour celebration will be held in PyeongChang, a resort town some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, on Monday. The Olympics, the first Winter Games in South Korea, will kick off on Feb. 9, 2018.  Before the start of the ceremony, the organizers will allow par

Feb. 6, 2015

Ex-speed skater Lee Kyou-hyuk named honorary ambassador for PyeongChang Olympics

Lee Kyou-hyuk, a former Olympic speed skater, was named an honorary ambassador for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Friday.  Lee, 37, will be formally introduced as the goodwill ambassador on Monday, when the Olympic organizers are scheduled to host a celebration of the three-year countdown to the competition.  Lee is a six-time Olympian who has set two world records in his career. The four-time world sprint champion has competed in more Olympics, winter or summer, than any other South Korea

Feb. 6, 2015

PyeongChang Olympics not going anywhere: IOC

An official from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Friday the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang will not be split with another city, putting an end to speculation that the South Korean host would be asked to co-host the event in a cost-saving step.According to the PyeongChang organizing committee, Gunilla Lindberg, head of the IOC's Coordination Commission on PyeongChang, declared that all scheduled events will be staged in South Korea as originally planned. The IOC last month passed

Jan. 16, 2015

Judging row at Kim Yu-na's final Olympics voted top S. Korean sports story of 2014

A figure skating judging scandal at the final Winter Olympics for Kim Yu-na was voted the top South Korean sports story of 2014, a poll of local media by Yonhap News Agency showed Tuesday.   In the survey of 48 South Korean newspapers and broadcasters, the controversial development in the ladies' singles figure skating competition at the Sochi Winter Games topped the list.   Kim came up shy of winning her second straight Olympic gold and settled for silver, as the Russian teenager Adelina Sotnik

Dec. 16, 2014

PyeongChang says 2018 Winter Games will stay home 'as planned'

PyeongChang, the South Korean host of the 2018 Winter Games, announced Friday all events for both the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in the country "as planned," its first formal rejection of the possibility of splitting events with another location in light of recent changes in Olympic hosting procedures.In an English-language statement, Cho Yang-ho, president of the PyeongChang Winter Games organizing committee, said it will be difficult for PyeongChang to seek relocation of events beca

Dec. 12, 2014

PyeongChang says logistics not sole reason to keep

Despite recent changes to the Olympic hosting process that would allow multiple cities to jointly stage events, PyeongChang, the South Korean host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, maintains that it has no plans to share events with cities outside the country.And officials of the local organizing committee say logistical headaches that may accompany co-hosting aren't the only reason; they argue that the public sentiment has to be taken into consideration, too.Earlier this week, the International Olym

Dec. 11, 2014

IOC grants full Olympic recognition to Kosovo

MONACO (AP) -- Athletes from Kosovo will be able to compete at the 2016 Summer Games after being granted full recognition on Tuesday by the International Olympic Committee.The full IOC formally ratified a decision made in October by the executive board that clears the way for Kosovo to compete as an independent nation.Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, becomes the 205th national Olympic committee recognized by the IOC.``This is one big day, one historical day for athletes o

Dec. 9, 2014

Olympics: Pyeongchang says no plan to shift events to Japan

Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics organisers said Monday they had no intention of moving any events outside South Korea, following reports that some competitions may be shifted to Japan in an effort to save costs."All necessary preparations are underway ... on the assumption that all competitions will be held as planned," a Pyeongchang organising committee spokeswoman told AFP."We are not considering the idea of holding some competitions elsewhere," she added.The statement followed reports that t

Dec. 8, 2014

North Korean delegation to Para Asiad arrives in South Korea

The North Korean delegation to the upcoming Asian Para Games arrived in South Korea on Saturday amid heightened cross-border tensions after the two Koreas exchanged machine gunfire.The 29-member squad, including nine athletes, flew to Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to South Korea, via Beijing to take part in the Para Asiad slated for Oct. 18-24 in Incheon.It is the first time that North Korea has sent its athletes to the Para Games. The communist country had dispatched a 273-mem

Oct. 12, 2014

[Asian Games] North Korea returns to Asiad top 10 after more than a decade

Aided by world record-breaking performances by its weightlifters, North Korea made a comeback to the top 10 in the Asiad medal tally for the first time in 12 years at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.   The communist country also drew spotlight for its proactive sports diplomacy by unprecedentedly sending high-ranking party officials as well as those from the sports circle to the South, boosting expectations that the continental event would serve as a breakthrough for icy inter-Korean ties.   With 1

Oct. 5, 2014

[Asian Games] Accidents, doping, controversies cloud 17th Asian Games

The 17th Asian Games may have had many golden moments --  439 total to be exact -- but it also had its share of lows that suggested the largest sporting event on the continent is never an easy one to organize.   For starters, the symbolic Asian Games cauldron, lit at the Sept. 19 opening ceremony, went out for 10 minutes the next day due to difficulties maintaining the complicated, fountain-shaped flame.The cauldron had already drawn plenty of criticisms, having been lit by a local celebrity wit

Oct. 5, 2014

[Asian Games] South Korea finishes with no golds in athletics, aquatics at Incheon

South Korea, despite accomplishing its initial goal of clinching second place in the medal standings at the Incheon Asian Games, wrapped up aquatics and athletics events on home soil without any gold.   With a total of 100 gold medals up for grabs in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and track and field events, the host country's biggest-ever delegation of 831 athletes failed to grab any Asiad gold, marking its first such drought since the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games.   No South

Oct. 5, 2014