Olympic Games is one of the most anticipated sporting event in the world. The event is conducted every 4 years. Summer and Winter Olympics are scheduled two years apart from each other. Winter Olympic 2018 was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea between 9th and 25th February, 2018 (Kim & Kim, 2015). The Olympic organizing committee shortlists and elects the host committee for a particular Olympic Games Event at least 6 years in advance. In July, 2011, Pyeongchang was elected as the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The games featured 102 events spread across 15 sports. This report highlights upon different stages of the event as well as a few recommendations for the future.
The formation stage of the event is the stage before the actual event takes place. There are various events that mark this stage. The first significant aspect of the formation stage is the bidding process where different countries bid to host the Olympics. Pyeongchang was elected in June, 2011 (Merkel & Kim, 2011). Munich in Germany and Annecy in France were runner ups of the bidding process. By October 2011, the Pyeongchang organizing committee was formed which was bestowed upon with the responsibility of putting together a master plan to execute the event (Whannel & Horne, 2016). The organizing committee included the following members
The construction of the Olympic Village had already begun by March, 2012. Constructions to ensure effective transportation across the city had also begun by June, 2012 including a high speed rail line that connects Seoul and Pyeongchang (Olympics MU, 2013). The entire infrastructure of all the concerning venues were finalized and developed during this stage. The purpose of the formation stage is to make sure that the event is planned in an effective manner. The execution of the event happens in later stages.
The growth stage of the event throws light upon all the factors and stages that eventually assist in event execution. Pyeongchang anticipated the total cost of the event to be $7 billion but eventually the total cost escalated to $13 billion. It has often been observed in the history of Olympic Games that the actual cost largely exceeds the anticipated cost.
Source 1: CNBC
In the growing stage of the event, athletes are also shortlisted for the main event after going through a stern selection process. Honored personalities from different parts of the world are invited for the event. All the invitations are sent by post from the IOC headquarters (Kim et. al., 2015). Individual countries start registering for the event and finalize their representative athletes for different sports. During the Olympic Games, there are a number of countries who showcase their cultures by delivering varied performances that reflect on their individual cultures (Choi et. al., 2013). These performances are prepared by countries during this stage.
Marketing and PR of the event play a significant role in the success of the event. At this stage, the marketing team works to establish the right brand positioning of the event and enhance awareness about the same (Ferrand et. al., 2012). Soohorang is the official mascot of the Winter Olympics 2018. The mascot was selected by an official tender process and was finalized in 2014 by the IOC. Sooho means protection and Rang is the Korean word for Tiger. The mascot was available as an emoticon in KakaoTalk which is an instant messaging service platform of Korea. ‘Passion. Connected’ is the official slogan of the event which was unveiled 1000 days before the opening ceremony.
Various social media platforms were also used during this time to promote the Olympic Games. Social media has become an effective tool to engage people across different parts of the world. During this period, the IOC also aims to gather sponsors for the event. Every event needs sponsors who would be willing to spend money on the event. Samsung, Naver, Coca-Cola, Alibaba, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, GE and Toyota are the leading event sponsors (Pyeongchang, 2018).
Efforts were also made to ensure smooth transportation process for the athletes as well as audience. The city’s overall infrastructure is improved in this stage and signboards to different Olympic venues are places at different locations of the city.
Staging stage of the event
This is the final execution stage of the event. This is where the event final commences. All Olympic Games event begin with a Torch Relay. The Torch Relay for Pyeongchang Olympics began on 24th October 2018 after being lit in Olympia, Greece. The relay covered two countries, South Korea and Greece. It ended on 9th February, 2018 (Aducovschi & Sab?u, 2018).
The opening ceremony was held at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium and began at 20:00 KST. The games were officially opened by the President of the republic of Korea, Moon Jae-In. The ceremony delivered the message of peace, harmony, passion and convergence.
The event witnessed 102 events in 15 sports making this particular event the first Olympic to surpass 100 medal events. A total of 2922 athletes participated in the event. Big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed team alpine skiing and mixed double curling were the four new disciplines introduced. Norway won the highest number of medals followed by Germany, Canada, United States and Netherlands.
The last part of the event included a closing ceremony which took place at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium at 20:00 KST. A note of thanks to all the participants was given and a traditional handover to Beijing was done which is the host city for the next Winter Olympic of 2022 (Short, 2018).
The Korean Relationships
There were various concerns that were raised over the poor relations between North and South Korea which were anticipated to impact the security of the event. It took a long time for various countries to confirm their participation in the event which impacted the overall performance. Therefore security measures must be taken much beforehand in order to create a safe environment for the event.
Budget exceeded
The estimated budget of the event was around $7 billion but exceeded to $13 billion (Pope, 2017). This reflects upon the lack of planning by the initial budget committee or a large number of unexpected expenses. Either ways, it depicts an inefficient use of resources. It has been observed in the past that Olympic Games’ actual budget often exceeds the anticipated one. However, exceeding the budget to almost twice the anticipated one surely raises concerns.
Extreme temperatures
On the first day itself, the temperature was recorded at minus 11-12 degrees. This led to a number of viewers and athletes falling ill. The denial by the IOC to sponsor the National Hockey League players made matters worse. Although first arrangements were in place but the situation could have been much better by providing quality treatment and facilities to participants. It was the coldest Winter Olympics (Won, 2018). This unmanaged weather led to delayed games, warped skins and hypothermia among spectators.
References
Aducovschi, D. and Sab?u, I., 2018. Less known aspects of the Olympic Games. Palestrica of the Third Millennium Civilization & Sport, 19(1).
Choi, J.S.A., Kim, M. and Park, S.B.R., 2013. Globalising sport management curriculum: an analysis of benefits of a short-term study abroad programme. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 9, 14(1-4), pp.23-38.
Ferrand, A., Chappelet, J.L. and Séguin, B., 2012. Olympic marketing. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Kim, A., Choi, M. and Kaplanidou, K., 2015. The role of media in enhancing people’s perception of hosting a mega sport event: the case of pyeongchang’s winter olympics bids. International Journal of Sport Communication, 8(1), pp.68-86.
Kim, M.S. and Kim, I.G., 2015. A research on supportive policy for domestic winter sports on the occasion of 2018 pyeongchang winter olympics. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(27).
Merkel, U. and Kim, M., 2011. Third time lucky!? PyeongChang’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics–politics, policy and practice. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 28(16), pp.2365-2383.
Olympic MU, 2013. ‘The making of 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games’. Available at https://olympics.mu/makings-2018-pyeongchang-olympic-games.html. Retrieved on 16 May, 2018.
Pope, M., Rolf, J.N. and Siklodi, N., 2017. Special affects? Nationalist and cosmopolitan discourses through the transmission of emotions: Empirical evidence from London 2012. British Politics, 12(3), pp.409-431.
Pyeongchang, 2018, ‘About Partners’. Available at https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/partners. Retrieved on 16 May, 2018.
Short, J.R., 2018. Hosting the Olympic Games: The Real Costs for Cities. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Whannel, G. and Horne, J., 2016. Understanding the olympics. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Won, Y., 2018. South Korea: Games offer some North-South unity under shadow of war. Green Left Weekly, (1168), p.16.
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