DURBAN, South Africa (Yonhap) -- Bid officials of PyeongChang, a South Korean candidate for the 2018 Winter Olympics,held a lively and spirited press conference here Monday, handling questions with aplomb with an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote on the host fast approaching.
In the final run-up to the IOC vote scheduled for Wednesday, PyeongChang kept hammering home its message of bringing winter sports to a new location.
"At the heart of Pyeongchang's bid for the 2018 Winter Games is the desire to help the Olympic Movement and winter sport expand to new regions of the world," said Cho Yang-ho, head of the bidding committee. "We call this simple yet powerful vision, 'New Horizons.'"
South Korea has never hosted the Winter Olympics. The Winter Games have been held in Asia only twice and both were in Japan -- Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. Cho said it would be "our honor" to host the country's maiden Winter Games.
PyeongChang is up against Munich of Germany and Annecy of France. The South Korean alpine town narrowly lost to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 Games and to Sochi of Russia for the 2014 edition.
Choung Byoung-gug, the minister of culture, sports and tourism, said he hopes the classic cliche, the third time's the charm, holds true. He noted that Durban is a lucky city for South Korean athletics.
In 1974, boxer Hong Soo-hwan won the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight championship here. At last year's World Cup here, South Korea clinched a spot in the round of 16 with a draw against Nigeria, reaching the second round for the first time at an away World Cup.
Kim Yu-na, the reigning Olympic figure skating champion and an honorary ambassador for Pyeongchang, said it would be her dream come true to see PyeongChang win the bid.
"I hope to see PyeongChang win the right to host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games ... and connect winter sports with a young,dynamic and growing population in new parts of the world," she said.
Officials also deftly handled some tricky questions. When asked if PyeongChang's bid was heavily reliant on certain corporations, Cho, also a chairman of the conglomerate Hanjin Group, said sponsorships are merely a part of the national support.
"About 90 percent of our people are backing PyeongChang's Olympic bid and corporate officials are among our people," Cho said. "They're trying to promote and develop winter sports."
Choung was asked if PyeongChang had any surprise up its sleeve, after Munich, considered the closer rival than Annecy, brought in Franz Beckenbauer, the World Cup-winning player and coach.
Katarina Witt, the former Olympic figure skating champion who heads Munich's bid, called the appearance "a little surprise," but Choung said PyeongChang will stay its course.
"When we choose our presenters, we select people who best know why we deserve to host the Winter Olympics," the minister said. "We've been bidding for about 10 years and we don't plan to turn things around with any surprising event."
There are 110 vote-wielding IOC members, but members from candidates' countries are not allowed to vote. South Korea, Germany and France each have two members.
Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, is also ineligible and would only cast a vote to break a tie in the final round if necessary.Six other IOC members will not be attending the election.
That leaves 97 members in the first round, barring abstentions.
If the vote enters the second round without a majority winner in the first round, then members from the country of the eliminated city will be eligible to vote.
