Pyeongchang's bid road to success for 2018 Winter Olympics

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South Korea, which hosted the 1988 Summer Games, has never held a Winter Olympics. Pyeongchang failed twice before to deliver.

Pyeongchang's slogan, "New Horizons", made the most of the fact that South Korea has never hosted a Winter Olympics and that the Games had only been to Asia twice before -- both in neighboring Japan.

Pyeongchang fell short in successive bids for the 2010 and 2014 competitions.

It was narrowly beaten by Vancouver, Canada, for the right to stage the 2010 Games, and by the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for the 2014 Olympics. Despite Pyeongchang's losses in previous bids, the region has long been preparing itself to become a Winter Olympic site.

It opened a 1.4 billion US dollar winter resort, built a range of venues and facilities, and plans to have a high-speed rail link up-and-running in time for the Games, that can whisk visitors from Seoul's airport to the Pyeongchang slopes in 68 minutes.

A ski jump tower has been raised to its full height, and is now one of the area's most iconic structures. Major hotels and a world class ski resort are also under construction.

The country's President, Lee Myung-bak, says Pyeongchang 2018 has been a government priority for the last 10 years.

Locals say South Koreans traditionally believe that the "third time's the charm." Now they have finally accomplished their goal, on this, their latest try.

Editor:Zhang Jingya |Source: CNTV.CN


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