South Korea's Olympic bid shows no progress
Eight months after North Jeolla Province's triumph in becoming the Asian country's candidate for the 2036 Summer Games, there have been no further developments and Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province's ambitions seem to be drifting, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported this week.
According to the publication, Representative Yoon Joon-byung of the Democratic Party of Korea criticised the 'mess' over the bid to host the Games in Jeonju on his social media accounts, pointing out that the city failed to meet the International Olympic Committee's standards for hosting the Olympics, which require a compact stadium layout, and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's approval requirement, which asks the local government to cover at least 40% of the total project cost.
North Jeolla Province Governor Kim Kwan-young and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism denied these claims. However, after South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June, his presidential policy announced the administration's national tasks in August, which did not include the Jeonju Olympics.
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In addition, a preliminary feasibility study for the bid to be held in September has not yet been released. The Olympic bid group explained that it was working on improving the bid, which has now been expanded to include other regions, including Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeonnam, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeonggi Province, and Seoul, despite having lost the bid in February.
Without a clear plan in place, Jeonju is lagging far behind other hopefuls who have finalised their plans. Doha, Qatar, officially made its intentions clear in July, with a plan to beat the summer heat by hosting the Games in autumn. India has also taken steps toward their ambitions, with a recommendation from the Commonwealth Sport last week to host the centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030, a major nod to its ability to host world-class events.
However, time may be on Jeonbuk's side. The International Olympic Committee announced it was pausing the election process for future Games in June, with IOC President Kirst Coventry explaining that "members want to be engaged more in the process."
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The Zimbabwean highlighted that the process needed to be more transparent. "If you're not sitting on the Future Host Commission, you're obviously not getting as much information and it's such an important part of what we do and members get asked a lot in their own home countries —What's happening? Where is it going? — that they want to better educate themselves," she said at the conference in June.
Coventry also underscored that the timing of awarding the Games was being evaluated, with some hosts being given longer lead times than others. Although the IOC has paused the selection to review its internal process, the organisation stressed that bidding cities should continue the work to vie for the Games.