2015 Gwangju Universiade hits the D-400 day mark, as practical preparations are being made for the Games

- Restructuring of organization for practical preparations -

- Development of on-the-field operation skills through test events -

There are only 400 days to go until the opening of the 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade.

The Gwangju Universiade will be a global University Sports Festival occurring from July3rd ~ 14th for 12 days, under the theme ‘Light Up Tomorrow’, with 20,000 participants from 170 countries.

The Gwangju Universiade will provide a platform for communication for the youths of the world as well as share the EPIC (Eco-friendliness, Peace, IT, Culture) vision of the Gwangju Universiade. Going beyond a simple sporting event, the Gwangju Universiade aims to leave a lasting legacy.

The Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (hereafter GUOC) is putting forth effort towards promoting the international event by revealing the official slogan, emblem (Wings of Light), and mascot (Nuribi), as well as appointing various sports stars, such as Son Yeon-jae (Rhythmic Gymnastics), Yang Hak-seon (Artistic Gymnastics), Ki Bo-bae (Archery), Choi Eun-sook (Fencing), and K-pop star, Miss A’s Suzy, as promotional ambassadors.

The Gwangju Summer Universiade is successfully ongoing with various preparations needed for the international event. Minimization of new construction while utilizing the existing facilities (94.1%), reconstruction of wornout downtown apartments and contributing to the development of the neighborhood are some of the ways that Gwangju

Universiade is hosting an eco-friendly event, while minimizing the necessary budget.

In addition, the operating costs for the opening and closing ceremonies have been lowered by about 100 billion won by simplifying the ceremonies and a breakthrough in operating strategy. The efforts of the GUOC was recognized as an exemplary international event for its significant reduction in its budget at the "National Finance Strategy Meeting" held under the chairmanship of the President Park Geun-hye on May 1st. It was also stated that this budget reduction plan will be expanded and applied to other international events.

Accommodation for those staying in accommodation facilities other than the Athletes’ and Media Village are also being carefully selected and secured to meet the needs of the technical officials, volunteers, and other related groups. Also, for the smooth transport of the spectators and athletes, 6 motor pools have been assigned with 270 routes and 100 parking lots are also being prepared.

The Organizing Committee is also utilizing the state-of-the-art IT technology to build a Total Integration Management System (TIMS), which will provide optimized sports games operations and support for a successful event. TIMS will not only effectively manage and support games operation tasks of the Organizing Committee but will also provide 28

subsystems in 5 different areas, Games Management, Timing and Scoring, Information Diffusion, Games Support, and Games Result, to closely connect all systems required for the operation of the Games.

It is expected that around 20,000 participants will be visiting Gwangju for the 2015 Summer Universiade and a key role in the success of accommodating the needs of these visitors are the volunteers. Gwangju Universiade is expecting to recruit about 30,000 volunteers and is currently conducting step-by-step training programs and foreign

language courses for the Gwangju Universiade volunteers ‘Unirang’. The volunteer training schools are being conducted at local volunteer centers as well as visiting on-site for specialized volunteer training of certain groups. Along with the volunteers are the University student ambassadors ‘Uni-friends’ and the local University student promotional group ‘Uni-birds’, who are actively taking part in promoting the Gwangju Universiade.

The Gwangju Summer Universiade will leave a lasting legacy through collaborations with UNOSDP (United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace) and FISU to carry out the EPICS Forum, Youth Leadership Programme, Anti-doping E-textbook development project, and the Young Reporters Program.

The organizers of the Gwangju Universiade plan to build a successful Games operating system by holding test events for 6 sports in August while also taking part in the Incheon Asian Games, being held in September, to gain practical field experience.

Media Inquires:

Byun, Hyunsun / dec12th@empas.com /+82 62 616 3663

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