PyeongChang 2018: New avenues for winter sports to explore
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games provided an opportunity to position the Republic of Korea as a leading winter sports destination and bring winter sport to new generations of potential athletes by tapping into a fast-growing youth market.
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games provided an opportunity to position the Republic of Korea as a leading winter sports destination and bring winter sport to new generations of potential athletes by tapping into a fast-growing youth market.
Initiatives such as the New Horizons Sliding Champions programme have been central to achieving these aims. Now known as the New Horizons Academy, it provides world-class training in snow and ice sports, at PyeongChang 2018 venues, to athletes from countries with little or no access to ice or snow. It also offers cultural and educational activities and is helping to bring about the creation of national sliding sport federations in some of the attendees’ home countries.
Similarly, the Dream Programme offers winter sports training opportunities and support for young people from countries with little or no access to winter sports. Over 200 of the more than 2,500 young people from 97 countries who have taken part in this annual programme have gone on to compete in international events.
These initiatives are the work of the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation, the creation of which was funded from the USD 55 million surplus from the Games. The Foundation’s main purpose is to promote and safeguard the legacy of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, ensuring that this is passed down to future generations. It is responsible for the post-Games management and use of competition venues, the development of winter sport in the Republic of Korea, and the promotion of sport for young people, the Olympic values and legacy through its activities.
Youth engagement in sport has been driven by various programmes, such as the Soohorang and Bandabi Sports Camps, which tap into a fast-growing youth market. Attended by young people from all over the Republic of Korea, the camps make use of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games’ competition venues in the two clusters in PyeongChang and Gangneung, which are now firmly established as key national and Asian winter sports hubs. In 2022, over 12,000 students from 491 schools across the nation took part in the camps, which run concurrently with winter sports team trials, training sessions and sports programmes.
It is partly thanks to its PyeongChang 2018 competition venues that the Republic of Korea can now position itself as a leading winter tourism destination capable of attracting visitors from abroad. Transport improvements, such as the extension of the country’s high-speed rail network, have aided this development by cutting journey times between Seoul and Gangwon State, which is now easier to reach than ever.
Ten of the 12 competition venues from PyeongChang 2018 remain in use all year round, with eight being used for winter sports and the rest for other sports. The two exceptions are the Gangneung Oval and Jeongseon Alpine Centre. Built for the speed skating competitions at the Games, the Gangneung Oval was a competition venue for the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, but it has been underused over time.
The Jeongseon Alpine Centre was a focal point for criticism from environmental groups before the Games, and it was dismantled afterwards as planned, in line with a commitment to restore the venue to its original state.
Seven PyeongChang 2018 venues hosted events at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, an indication of the successful delivery of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and the ongoing desire to bring winter sports to a new generation of athletes. The staging of Gangwon 2024 provided a further return on the significant investment that the Republic of Korea had made in developing winter sport nationally and throughout Asia.
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games also took a significant step towards gender parity, with women accounting for 1,169 of the 2,833 athletes, equating to 41.3 per cent – a record at the time.
In addition, PyeongChang 2018 was notable for bringing the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea closer together. Athletes from the neighbouring countries entered the Olympic Stadium together under a single flag at the Opening Ceremony, while 35 female ice hockey players from the two nations competed in the first unified Korean team in Olympic history.
Over a quarter – some 28 per cent – of the world’s population watched the Games unfold, with PyeongChang 2018 also attracting more followers on social media than any previous Olympic Winter Games and 670 million online users around the world viewing digital broadcast coverage of the Games.