SKorean city of Pyeongchang gets third consecutive chance to bid for Winter Olympics

SKorean city to launch 3rd bid for Winter Olympics

SEOUL, South Korea — Pyeongchang will bid for the third consecutive time to host the Winter Olympics.

The South Korean Olympic committee chose the alpine city of Pyeongchang to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics in a 30-13 vote, committee spokesman Kim Yong said Thursday.

Kim said a formal bid would be submitted to the International Olympic Committee by October. The IOC will choose the 2018 venue in July 2011.

Pyeongchang, 110 miles (180 kilometers) northeast of Seoul, lost the 2014 Games’ bid to Russia’s Sochi and the 2010 bid to Canada’s Vancouver.

Kim said Pyeongchang is expected to compete with Germany’s Munich and Annecy, France to host the 2018 Games.

The KOC released a statement saying Pyeongchang was “hoping to make it this time lucky.”

Kim Jin-sun, governor of the Gangwon Province and leader of the bid, went further.

“Pyeongchang will make sure it wins this time,” Kim was quoted as saying by Yonhap, the official news agency. “Pyeongchang won the recognition of the international sports world and media through previous campaigns. We will not fail to grab this chance.”

Kim said hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games “is a long-standing dream of Korea.”

“We narrowly missed out two previous attempts, but we will do everything in our power for the honor of being the official 2018 host city,” he said in a statement.

The governor said the compact venues, including the ski jumping and biathlon, were already in place.

“In addition, PyeongChang has kept its promise to the Olympic Movement by carrying out the Dream Program every year and hosting other winter sporting events,” he said. “Needless to say, we will seek a close cooperation with the KOC as well as the government for the successful bid.”

Officials from Busan, South Korea’s second city, reportedly told the meeting it was unfair for the Olympic committee to back the same bid three times because it eroded the likelihood of gaining government support for a Summer Games bid.

Busan was reportedly considering a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.