IOC President Bach to visit PyeongChang to check on Olympic preparations

Published : Mar 13, 2017 - 09:36 Updated : Mar 13, 2017 - 09:36

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will visit PyeongChang this week to check on preparations for the 2018 Winter Games in the South Korean alpine town.

Bach will arrive in South Korea on Tuesday to take a tour of the Olympic venues in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, and to preside over the IOC's Executive Board meeting for two days starting Thursday. He will hold a press conference Friday.

In this file photo taken on Aug. 4, 2016, the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach attends a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ahead of the 31st Summer Olympic Games. (Yonhap)

It will be the first IOC Executive Board meeting in South Korea since August 2011.

Separately, the IOC's Coordination Commission on PyeongChang will also review the host city's Olympic preparations starting Monday. Gunilla Lindberg, head of the commission, and Lee Hee-beom, president of PyeongChang's organizing committee, will hold a joint press conference Wednesday.

This will be the first visit by the Coordination Commission since last October.

PyeongChang is the first South Korean host of a Winter Olympics. It will hold snow and sliding sports, while Gangneung, a coastal town located east of PyeongChang, will stage ice events, such as short track speed skating, figure skating and hockey.

Jeongseon, another sub-host city, just east of PyeongChang, will be home to alpine skiing races. (Yonhap)