SEOUL (Reuters) – Pyeongchang has submitted its 2018 application file to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with South Korea still basking in glory from the Vancouver Games.

Bid leaders outlined the winter resort’s easy accessibility and overwhelming public support for the bid, the Korea Times reported.

South Korea is still buzzing after the country’s athletes finished a best-ever fifth in last month’s Vancouver medals table with six gold, six silver and two bronze.

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VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The head of security for the Winter Olympics said on Wednesday he is not aware of any specific terror threat to the Vancouver Games, which should allow him to stay within the C$900 million ($850 million) security budget.

“There is absolutely no known threat to the Olympic or Paralympic Games,” Bud Mercer, an assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters in a briefing on security plans for the Games, which start Feb. 12.

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MADRID (Reuters) – Barcelona will bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in the Pyrenees, the Spanish city’s mayor Jordi Hereu said on Wednesday.

“Barcelona has a good chance and wants to relive the Olympic dream. The city is ready and already has the experience (having hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics),” Hereu told reporters.

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TOKYO (Reuters) – A proposal by Hiroshima and Nagasaki to table a joint bid for the 2020 Olympics has been rejected by the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC).

The mayors of both cities were informed of the decision by Japanese Olympic boss Tsunekazu Takeda and advised to consider individual bids.

“JOC president Takeda conveyed to them we must uphold the Olympic charter so co-hosting is not possible,” the JOC’s Olympic cooperation director Yasuhiro Nakamori told Reuters on Friday.

“It’s possible Hiroshima could make a solo bid. The city staged the 1994 Asian Games. But it would be a bit difficult for Nagasaki to stage such a big international event.”

Takeda held talks with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the only cities to have suffered a nuclear attack — in Tokyo earlier on Friday and refused to rule either venue out.

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki both have a very good chance of staging an Olympics on their own,” Takeda told reporters.

Tokyo, which lost out to Rio de Janeiro in October’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote for the 2016 Games, is also in contention to become Japan’s 2020 bid city.

The identity of Japan’s bid city for the 2020 Summer Games could remain a mystery until 2011, Nakamori said.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Organizers of next year’s Winter Olympics in Canada will support a free market system of reselling tickets, a move aimed at avoiding a problem in past Games when “sold out” events still had empty seats.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) had once warned it would punish people who tried to “scalp” or resell tickets at more than their face value. But it has since decided to use its own ticket system to resell tickets in a way that will also protect consumers.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. Olympic Committee is about 30 days away from selecting a new chief executive who will help improve international relations, the board chairman said on Monday.

Chairman Larry Probst said he was “not going anywhere” despite troubles including Chicago losing its bid to host the 2016 Summer Games.

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Sochi 2014 today launched its new brand, emblem and tagline, introducing the first ever Olympic Games emblem that forms a web address to provide a clear emphasis on reaching new audiences through digital platforms.

• First ever use of an internet domain address creating a ‘digital’ Olympic emblem to promote open dialogue between nations and fans
• Hailed as an iconic symbol of contemporary Russia and a key milestone in the preparation of the Games

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ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (Reuters) – The torch relay for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics got underway on Thursday, with the sun’s rays igniting the flame during a brief break in the clouds at the ancient Olympic stadium.

It was the first time in the last four winter Games torch-lighting ceremonies that the back-up flame from the previous day’s dress rehearsal at the site of the ancient Olympics did not have to be used.

Actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing a High Priestess calling on sun God Apollo, knelt in front of a parabolic mirror reflecting the sun’s rays that seconds later ignited the silver torch as the clouds parted above the site of the ancient Games and the Temple of Hera.

The ceremony, watched by hundreds of schoolchildren and tourists as well as dignitaries, kicked off an eight-day torch relay throughout Greece, including the country’s ski resorts, before a handover to Vancouver Games organisers in the Panathenian stadium in Athens, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.

On Oct. 30 the flame will arrive in Canada for the biggest-ever domestic relay, covering 45,000 kms and ending in Vancouver on Feb. 12, the date of the Games opening ceremony.

“By February 12, it will have visited over 1,030 Canadian communities, received 119 Aboriginal blessings, touched three oceans and been held by a mosaic of Canadian people representing all ages, cultures, religions and languages,” Vancouver Games chief John Furlong said in a brief speech.

“Today we create a bridge between ancient Olympia and young Canada.”

FIRST RUNNER

Thursday’s peaceful events were a far cry from the Beijing 2008 Games torch-lighting ceremony which was marred by human rights protests. After the global protests that followed Beijing’s torch relay, Olympic chiefs decided to scrap international relay legs.

“The longest national Olympic torch relay in history will create a spirit of global community and world citizenship,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.

The relay’s first runner, Olympic skier Vassilis Dimitriadis, dressed in full winter gear on a warm autumn day, set off from the ancient Olympic stadium which was hosting the winter Games ceremony for the first time.

Dimitriadis briefly stopped at a marble memorial where the heart of the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, is buried, before starting off the 2,000-km journey through Greece.

“This is something we will never see again,” said tourist and Vancouver native Nadine Ho, who has signed up as a volunteer for the Feb. 12-28 Olympics.

The Coordination Commission of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games concluded its first visit to Innsbruck today. Ten months after the announcement of the host city on 12 December 2008, the Innsbruck Organising Committee (IYOGOC) has established all the foundations necessary to stage the Games in 2012. “We are impressed with the progress of preparations and the quality of the venues to be used for the Youth Olympic Games. IYOGOC is very much on track with the involvement of all local authorities through the Olympia Forum Tirol,” said Gian-Franco Kasper, Chairman of the Coordination Commission, at the end of the visit.

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Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia responsible for overseeing preparations of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, said in a press release that Taymuraz Bolloev, the newly appointed President of the Olympstroy, was “one of the top managers in the country”.

Bolloev was appointed President of the Olympstroy State Corporation, responsible for delivering venues and infrastructure for Sochi 2014, when his predecessor Viktor Kolodyazhny asked to transfer to another role that is permanently based in Krasnodar Region.

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