PyeongChang welcomes international media
In the second week of November, the PyeongChang Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (POCOG) welcomed more than 200 representatives of the international media to PyeongChang for a World Press Briefing.
The four-day event in the host city of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games gave visiting media an overview of the preparations, including the test event programme for this winter, which get underway in November.
The briefing opened with a welcome speech from POCOG President Lee Hee-beom. The group was then shown detailed presentations of a range of functional areas to understand the progress being made and the milestones ahead. There was also an official Gala Dinner and an opportunity for guests to speak directly to the functional areas to get more details and updates.
The group was also taken on a series of venue tours. All of the venues in PyeongChang are located within a 30-minute drive of each other, which enabled the media to visit a total of 11 within the Mountain and Coastal Clusters during their visit. Many of these venues will be used in the coming months during the test events and training sessions.
Among those taking part in the briefing were a wide range of national and international news organisations as well as representatives from the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Other host cities also attended, as well as National Olympic Councils and the International Federations of the Olympic Winter Sports.
Lee Jin-heung, Director General of Media Operations said: “The PyeongChang 2018 World Press Briefing was a meaningful opportunity to connect with local and international media while introducing the upcoming Games and host city.
“As excitement about the Games is growing, we hoped every participant left PyeongChang with a positive impression and better understanding of our current preparations for the Games."
The World Broadcasters Meeting, which is due to take place in February 2017, will follow a similar format, but the next main focus for POCOG will be the delivery of a busy winter season of test events.
The test events will take place between November and April. The FIS Snowboard (Big Air) World Cup – making its Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018 – is next and will take place from 23-26 November. It will be swiftly followed by the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating, which will take place from 17-19 December to round off 2016.