A New Legacy of Gangwon Left Behind by 14 Days
Youth Olympics, A New Legacy of Gangwon Left Behind by 14 Days of Fierce Competition
Successfully utilized the 2018 Pyeongchang facilities to reduce costs, deliver vivid experiences, and spread the Olympic spirit.
Concerns about a "second jamboree" were completely dispelled with pan-government operation and support similar to the Olympics.
Gangwon 2024 opened on January 19th.
The Winter Youth Olympics will conclude on the 1st after 14 days of intense competition.
Yonhap News is publishing four special articles summarizing the Winter Youth Olympic Games, including the overall content of the Games, the stars born from this Games, and an interview with Choi Jong-gu, Chairman of the Organizing Committee.
The 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games (hereinafter referred to as Gangwon 2024), which kicked off under the banner of carrying on the legacy of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, will conclude on the 1st after completing 14 days of competition.
Gangwon 2024, which announced the start of the competition simultaneously at the Gangneung Speed ??Skating Rink and Pyeongchang Dome on the 19th of last month, will be the final stage of friendship and harmony with a closing ceremony with the theme of "Let"s Shine Again" at the plaza in front of the Gangneung Hockey Center auxiliary stadium at 8 pm on the 1st. decorate
Gangwon 2024 marked a milestone in the history of the event as the first Winter Youth Olympics held on the Asian continent outside of Europe.
In particular, by utilizing the same facilities as the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which ended successfully six years ago, the Gangwon 2024 Organizing Committee and our government significantly saved their budget, and provided the adult Olympic experience to the 1,802 athletes from the 78 participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
It has become a competition that kills all three birds with one stone: nurturing future Olympians and spreading the Olympic spirit by delivering a vivid message.
In particular, the fact that the Youth Olympic Games were also held in the stadium where the Olympic games were actually held could serve as a new standard in determining the next host site in terms of motivation.
If the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics were held in three locations in Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang, Gangneung, and Jeongseon, Gangwon 2024 will be held in four locations, including Hoengseong, with 7 events, including ice (Gangneung), sledding and snow (Pyeongchang), and snow (Jeongseon and Hoengseong), 15 games.
Four events and 81 specific events were held.
The ‘Pyeongchang Kids’, who dreamed of becoming Olympians at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, participated in many games at Gangwon 2024 and have now become a new human legacy for Gangwon 2024.
Based on the skills and irreplaceable experience honed at Gangwon 2024, they will prepare for the 2026 Milan/Cortina d"Ampezzo Winter Olympics.
Gangwon 2024 was loved by participants and audiences with a variety of cultural events every day, befitting the nature of the Youth Olympics as a cultural Olympics that combines experience and education.
Korea"s proud K-pop and dance, Korean traditional cultural performances, winter sports experiences, and high-quality classical music feasts were held every day at the stadium and the host city, delighting the eyes and ears of competition officials and visitors.
Gangwon 2024"s mascot "Mungcho", which was inspired by the meaning of "uniting", was a friendly photo model and received a lot of love throughout the competition period.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the responsible ministry, took the lead in preparing and operating the competition to ensure its success.
In order to avoid following in the footsteps of the World Scout Jamboree incident in Saemangeum, Jeollabuk-do, which left a huge scar on the Korean people last year due to poor preparation and poor management, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism concentrated its personnel on the Gangwon 2024 Organizing Committee a month and a half before the event, effectively making this event a government-led event. I took it.
The Gangwon 2024 Organizing Committee, which was co-chaired by Jin Jong-oh, the star of Korean shooting, and Lee Sang-hwa, the legend of ice skating, also found stability when Chairman Choi Jong-gu joined, 53 days before the opening of the competition.
Chairman Choi is an economic bureaucrat from Gangneung and a high-ranking figure who served as chairman of the Financial Services Commission.
Even though he had no contact with the sports world, he is evaluated as having put all his effort into running the organizing committee and raising financial resources.
The Minister and Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, including Minister Yoo In-chon, Vice Minister Jeon Byeong-geuk and Jang Mi-ran, frequently toured the Gangneung, Pyeongchang, Hoengseong and Jeongseon stadium facilities and thoroughly inspected the preparations and operational status of the Games.
Based on the experience of successfully hosting the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, Gangwon 2024 Organizing Committee, and volunteers will operate and support the Youth Olympic Games at a government-wide level similar to the Olympics, providing meals, transportation, and safety.
The competition was completed without any major disruption due to measures against extreme cold.
The opening ceremony was held in Gangneung, with an average of 12,000 spectators attending the Gangneung Ice Arena every day for four days from January 27th to 30th, when the figure skating competition was held, and 8,300 spectators attending the ice hockey stadium on January 30th, the highest number on a weekday.
Gangwon 2024, which opened all games for free except for , also received high scores in box office success.
Athletes and officials from around the world who were fascinated by the affection between Gangwon-do and Korea shared unforgettable memories and expressed their gratitude on their social networking service (SNS) accounts.
‘Thank you to the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games for allowing me to have such an amazing experience’ (French snowboarder Majali Iafrit Danielsson), ‘Thank you Korea.
Messages such as ‘The 2024 Gangwon-do Youth Winter Olympics were so great!’ (BBC reporter Johnny Rutherford) and ‘I am grateful for the Youth Olympics journey and thank everyone who made it possible’ (German biathlete Finn Zurniden) spread around the world.
Kaori Kakiuchi, the mother of Japanese figure skater Haru Kakiuchi, said, "When I first went to Korea, people held my luggage when I got off the KTX, and if I kept waiting in front of the non-automatic door, they tried to tell me how to open it or explain it in Japanese.
“It was a really warm country,” he said, adding, “The stadium was filled with cheering that I had never experienced in an All-Japan tournament.”