PyeongChang, South Korea did not let losing two previous Olympic bids to Vancouver, Canada, and Sochi, Russia, stop them from their goal. This determination was rewarded, as they have won the bid and will host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games the Winter Paralympic Games that follow. Taking a look back, especially at the bid process and timeline for the games in 2014, helps to put their determination and success into perspective.
In July 2005, seven countries submitted bids for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Those countries (and the proposed cities) were Russia (Sochi), Austria (Salzburg), Spain (Jaca), Kazakhstan (Almaty), South Korea (PyeongChang), Bulgaria (Sofia), and Georgia (Borjomi).
In June 2006, the IOC selected Sochi, Russia, Salzburg, Austria and PyeongChang, South Korea as the finalists.
On July 4, 2007, the IOC announced that Sochi had edged out PyeongChang as the winner of the bid for the 2014 Winter Games.
Despite missing out on the 2014 Games, PyeongChang and South Korea still had a great amount of support, and they submitted a bid to host the 2018 XXIII Olympic Winter Games.
On July 6, 2011 the IOC announced that Pyeongchang had beat out the other two finalists of Annecy, France and Munich, Germany, and would be hosting the Games.
On August 5, 2011 the IOC announced the creation of the Pyeongchang 2018 Coordination Commission for the Games.
On October 19, 2011 the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic Games (POCOG) was launched. Kim Jin-sun was announced as the head of POCOG. Its first jobs included putting together a master plan for the games, and creating or designating venues for certain events.
In June 2012 ground was broken on a high speed train line that connects Pyeonchang to Seoul, in order to ease transportation during the games.
In 2013 Pyeongchang had a miniature dress rehearsal of sorts for the games when they hosted the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games, and got the test out some of the venues and safety precautions that they had put in place already.
The Sochi 2014 Games should serve as an even better learning block for POCOG, as they can learn from the mistakes of SOCOG (Sochi Organizing Committee for the 2014 Olympic Games) and utilize them to improve the game plan for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games will run February 9th to February 25th, 2018. The 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will run March 9th to March 18th, 2018.
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