Congrats to Pyeongchang, the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics!

Just today, the International Olympic Committee’s 95 members took the final vote on which country and city are to host the next Winter Olympics in 2018, and the votes received for Pyeongchang blew records away! The South Korean city took 63 of the 95 votes, ahead of Munich’s 25 and Annecy’s 7…

In both draws earlier, the ones which selected Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi for 2014, Pyeongchang lost out coming 2nd and 3rd respectively. “This is one of the happiest days for our country, our people and millions of youths dreaming of winter sport!” said Pyeongchang’s leader for the attempts Cho Yang-ho. The city has a mere 47,000 people, and in British terms it wouldn’t even be a city, for lack of a cathedral in the area. According to officials, the event will bring tourism and economy boosts to South Korea’s southern coast, such as Asia’s previous two hosts Sapporo and Nagano did before.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak stated “It’s my duty to bring the Games back to Asia. I want to provide the best Winter Games the world has ever seen, and this is a victory for the South Korean people. Thank them, not me. For 17 years, I have had a difficult time, both in Presidency and my personal life, and the Winter Olympics will bring my spirits high as well as give national pride for South Korea. I’m overwhelmed, thank you so much for this oppurtunity!”

Munich’s attempt to counter Pyeongchang’s win, was that they previously made 4 consecutive bids and all of them were unsuccessful, and the country hasn’t hosted the Winter Olympics for 70 years. Annecy, the far outsiders, sought for an ecologically-favourable Games in the deep heart of the French Alps, and in return became a laughing stock between other candidates.

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