Grow together, shine forever at Gangwon 2024

Lee Sang-hwa
The author, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in women’s 500 meter speed skating, is a co-president of Gangwon 2024.

The 4th Winter Youth Olympic Games will be staged in Gangwon from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1, 2024. The Youth Olympiad champions the three Olympic spirits — friendship, excellence and respect — and prizes the participation, education and cultural activities of young people. That’s why the organizing committee of the Youth Olympics chose “Shine together” as its motto and is striving to achieve the following three goals.

First, the organizing committee will stage a sports festival with a good mix of K-culture. The Korean wave perfectly symbolized by Psy, BTS and Blackpink have been enthralling the younger generations around the globe. As the saying goes, what is Korean is most universal. To embody that, the organizing committee will give international athletes and sports delegations an opportunity to enjoy the charms of Korean culture at Gangwon 2024. The committee is preparing 15 cultural programs such as K-pop concerts and classical music performances throughout the Games, including at the opening and closing ceremonies. Participants in Gangwon 2024 can go in for cultural programs whenever they want during the two weeks.

Second, the organizing committee will thoroughly prepare for the best sports competitions. The Winter Youth Olympics was the fertile ground for a number of future sports stars. In Korea, short track speed skater Hwang Dae-heon, the gold medalist in the 2022 Beijing Winter Games; speed skater Kim Min-sun, a silver medalist in women’s 500 meters at the sixth ISU Speed Skating World Cup; and figure skater Yoo Young, a gold medalist in the 2023/24 ISU Junior Grand Prix were all medalists in the Youth Olympics. Overseas, freestyle skier Eileen Gu, the gold medalist in the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, and snowboard star Chloe Kim, the gold medalist at the Beijing Winter Olympics, also had competed in the Youth Olympics.

The competitions for 15 events in Gangwon 2024 will be held in nine venues — three in Pyeongchang, four in Gangneung and one each in Jeongseon and Hoengseong. Nearly all the facilities were used during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics or are being used for current international competitions. In other words, those venues already meet the strict standards of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Nevertheless, the organizing committee will finish any possible repairs and renovations at all venues by October so that the 1,900 athletes can play in the best possible conditions.

Third, the organizing committee is committed to staging a successful Olympics for the pride of the Gangwon residents. To achieve the goal, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the state government dispatched their best qualified personnel to help the organizing committee. More than 30 percent of all the committee staff — and over 70 percent of experts from the private sector — have been involved in running the Olympics.

The organizing committee also checks the preparation status with the IOC each week, the results of which are being shared with the IOC for a review. On top of that, the committee has established a joint consultative body comprised of 13 entities, including government ministries, host city governments and the Korea Sports & Olympic Committee.

There are 136 days left until the Gangwon 2024. We have been working hard for a successful staging of the Games since the launch of the organizing committee on Sept. 3, 2020. Gangwon has the experience and passion to successfully hold large-scale international events like the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, not to mention the Goseong World Scout Jamnboree in 1991. I firmly believe the Gangwon 2024 will be remembered as one of the most successful international sport events and that all the residents of the state and the rest of the country can take pride in.