Gangwon Youth Olympic Games Commitment to Success: "No Second Jamboree Incident"

4th Winter Youth Olympic Games to Open in Gangwon Next January
1,900 Youths from 80 Countries to Participate... 14 Days of Competition
Press Conference Held with Organizing Chair Jin Jong-oh and Others
"1,700 Security Personnel Deployed... Ensuring a Safe Event"

The Organizing Committee for the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games emphasized that they are thoroughly preparing for the event and assured that there will be no recurrence of the Jamberry incident.

On the 3rd, the committee held a press briefing at the Korea Tourism Organization conference room in Jung-gu, Seoul, stating that they will make every effort during the remaining 77 days to ensure a successful Olympic Games. The briefing was attended by Co-Chairman Jin Jong-oh and Secretary-General Kim Cheol-min, among others.

The 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games will open on January 19 next year and run until February 1. Approximately 1,900 athletes from about 80 countries will compete for 81 gold medals across 15 events. The Youth Olympics, like the traditional Olympics, are held every four years. The history is relatively short. The Summer Youth Olympics were first held in 2010 in Singapore, and the Winter Youth Olympics debuted in 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria. Next year’s Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games will be the 4th edition and the first to be hosted on the Asian continent.

The athletes participating in the Games are aged 15 to 18. Due to the disruption caused by the '2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree,' which gathered about 43,000 youths of similar age from 158 countries last August but suffered from poor preparation, even more meticulous preparation is required for this event.

Secretary-General Kim Cheol-min stated that a significant portion of the organizing committee staff have experience preparing for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and that the Games have been in preparation for three years, pledging a successful event.

"The organizing committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Gangwon Province have worked together to prepare systematically for about three years. The committee has around 170 staff members, about 50% of whom at the director level or higher were involved in preparing the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and over 70% of the private sector experts also have experience from the 2018 Games. All competition venues are 100% existing facilities. Renovations were completed last month, and there are no risks related to facility construction," he said.

Secretary-General Kim emphasized, "The organizing committee has conducted over 150 inspections through online and on-site visits with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Federations (IFs) for each sport. Additionally, more than 20 meetings have been held between the IOC and the organizing committee leadership, allowing for double and triple checks, ensuring thorough preparation."

[Photo provided by the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee]

Co-Chairman Jin Jong-oh pledged safe event management. Jin said, "Since this is a youth event, we are carefully preparing for safety and extreme cold weather issues. About 1,700 security personnel, including police, firefighters, and private security, will be deployed, and we will do our utmost to ensure safety management." He added, "We are reinforcing facilities so athletes can maintain their best condition, and providing cold weather guidance for spectators, striving until the very end to ensure everyone can safely enjoy the Olympics."

As a youth event, it will be organized more as a festival to foster friendship rather than competition. The organizing committee explained, "We are preparing various cultural experience events for youth participants, including art performances and K-pop shows promoting K-Culture, talk concerts with sports stars, career experience through psychological tests for youth, and winter sports experiences such as figure skating and biathlon." Most events, except ice hockey, conclude by 1-2 PM, allowing athletes to enjoy various cultural activities during their free time.

Lee Gwan-pyo, head of the organizing committee’s planning division, said, "We are preparing three K-pop performances before the Games start, at the opening ceremony, and during the Games. The lineup is currently under discussion and is expected to be finalized this month."

The ticket reservation site for the Games will open at 11:11 AM on the 11th. All competitions and the closing ceremony are free of charge, with only the opening ceremony in Gangneung being ticketed. The opening ceremony will be held simultaneously at Gangneung Oval and Pyeongchang Dome on January 19, 2024, and the closing ceremony will take place on February 1, 2024, at the outdoor stage in Gangneung Olympic Park.

The organizing committee plans to raise the event’s profile through 'Virtual Gangwon,' a metaverse platform being introduced for the first time at the Olympics. 'Virtual Gangwon' is jointly developed by the IOC, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the organizing committee. Utilizing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, users can experience Olympic venues and tourist attractions. Nine buildings, including competition venues and the athletes’ village, have been recreated in the virtual space, with added engaging elements such as mini-game score competitions and challenges. The beta version is scheduled to open on the 17th, with the official launch planned for early January next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.