Public Sentiment, Existing Contracts Keeping Olympic Events in PyeongChang

(ATR) The next Winter Olympics host says it has no plans to allow certain events to leave South Korea.

In light of this week’s Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms, some speculated that some sliding events could be moved out of the country to ease construction and legacy burdens for the host.

In addition to logistical reasons, PyeongChang 2018 organizers say there is a great deal of public pride tied up in hosting the entirety of the Games.

"The Olympic Agenda 2020 is a step in the right direction in that it will ease the burden on future Olympic hosts," PyeongChang spokesperson Mu-chol Shin told the Korea Herald.

"But with PyeongChang, sliding tracks are already under construction, and it’s difficult to move sledding races to some other place at this point."

The comments came after IOC Coordination Commission chief Gunilla Lindberg told the AP that it was up to PyeongChang whether to "take this great opportunity" to move some events outside the country.

The 2018 host is reluctant to undermine the plan that helped win the right to host in 2011, one that promised a majority of venues within 30 minutes of the Olympic stadium.

"I think the public sentiment is even more crucial here," Shin said. "Their town has worked so hard to get the Olympics on their third try, and it’d be difficult for them to give it away to some other country.

"There may be 12 tracks available around the world, but wherever they may be located, it’s hard for these people [in PyeongChang] to concede their Olympics."

The Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang is located, opposes moving the events, saying holding them elsewhere would not save money at this point. A anti-Olympic group released a statement on Dec. 10 saying the Games "are hurtling toward disaster without any kind of financial preparations" and that hold some events outside the province would minimize the budgetary impact while also preserving the local environment.

Provincial governor Moon-soon Choi told Korean publication Hankyoreh, "We haven’t yet received an official request to hold some events in a different location. It’s too late to do so, and it wouldn’t help us cut costs, anyway. It’s not clear why we would accept the proposal or what we could gain from doing so."

Choi went on to say that money has already been allocated for facilities and cancelling the contracts would only cost more money.

According to Business Korea, a recent poll indicated that 50.5 percent of residents opposed co-hosting the Olympics with Japan, while 57.8 percent were open to co-hosting with another Korean city or province.

Written by Nick Devlin

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