The comments about the weather annoy me a little. Pyeongchang probably has good snow through the season but to discuss the snow they currently have is to ignore the snow-free January most of Gangwon has had.
For their last two bids, Pyeongchang's theme was "Bringing Peace to the Korean Peninsula," a reference to the fact the province it's in sits on the border with North Korea.
At the 2006 Winter Games, South and North Korea marched together into the stadium during the opening ceremonies, but didn't do so for 2008 or 2010, a nod to their increasingly frosty relations.
This time around, the city has switched the theme of its bid to "Making Pyeongchang Green for the Games."
Observing the Vancouver Games in action, Kim said he has learned a few things.
"The conditions here in Vancouver are slightly different from those in Pyeongchang but I believe that when it comes to Games operations, it will be the same," he said, citing transportation, volunteers and accommodation in particular.
One of the concerns raised by the IOC in its evaluation of their 2010 bid was a relatively low number of hotel rooms and the distance of them from venues.
What South Korea could have delivered differently, and perhaps better, than Vancouver is the weather.
In the bid phase, the IOC had noted that Pyeongchang's winters may be a bit stronger than Vancouver's.
"The Olympic region should offer stable winter conditions and sufficient snow, with no specific problems expected during the Games period," read the evaluation commission's review of Korea's plan.
For Vancouver, they said: "The coastal climate provides variable weather, with rain spells in Vancouver and snow in the mountain venues that may impair visibility."
Over the last week, while temperatures in Vancouver ranged between 4 C and 8 C degrees, in South Korea it was between -2 C and -5 C.
Knowing the climate, the IOC was repeatedly asked in the first few days of the Vancouver Games, did you make a mistake choosing Vancouver?
"If we had the decision again, we would take the same decision,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a briefing.
“It would come to Vancouver.”
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For a good part of the world's population that doesn't freeze over in winter, the games are pretty much a big joke.
Why aren't ballerinas celebrated like these figure skaters? Isn't that discrimination if ballerinas aren't their own sport in the summer version of the games?
Plus, out of a population of well over a billion, India only has three people competing in these games and Belize has none.
Belize has no snow but India has plenty; it is strange that they have a small team.
about ballerinas and figure skaters: a lot of people have complained about the judged sports like figure skating; they are too easily corrupted. On the other hand, I read that in the original Olympics, two wrestlers were competing and one committed a foul. The other was awarded a single free strike. The striker stiffened his fingers and drove them through his opponents stomach. The man died, but the striker was then charged with committing a foul because each finger was counted as a strike. I don't know who won, but one guy definitely lost!
Judged sports are strange!
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