A team of International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials will visit South Korea this week to inspect preparations for the country’s first Winter Games in two years’ time, the event’s organizers said Sunday.
The IOC’s Coordination Commission for PyeongChang 2018, headed by Gunilla Lindberg, will begin its three-day trip to Gangneung, Gangwon Province, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul, on Monday. It will be the delegation’s sixth visit to South Korea.
Gangneung, one of the sub-hosts of the 2018 Winter Olympics, lies east of PyeongChang and will stage hockey and skating events during the Olympics.
The 11-person Coordination Commission will be joined by Sarah Lewis, secretary general of the International Ski Federation (FIS); some 30 officials from the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC); and 40 other representatives from PyeongChang’s organizing committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korean Olympic Committee.
On the first day, the Coordination Commission will have a tour of Olympic venues, media village and athletes’ residences in Gangneung. On Tuesday, the IOC team will hold meetings with the organizers to discuss preparations for Olympic test events, venue construction, marketing strategies and transportation plans.
The Coordination Commission will wrap up its visit with a press conference Wednesday at Lakai Sandpine Resort in Gangneung.
The seventh Coordination Commission visit will be from Oct. 4-6 this year. (Yonhap)
