EvalCom 2015 SU in Gwangju – Day 1

 The FISU delegates with President Lee Myung-bak

The FISU Evaluation Committee for the 2015 Summer Universiade is currently in the process of inspecting the three candidate cities – Taipei City (TPE), Gwangju (KOR) and Edmonton (CAN) – and ended its visit of Taipei City today by traveling to the next Asian destination, the Korean city Gwangju. The FISU delegation headed by Vice-President Stefan Bergh (SWE) and consisting of EC members Luciano Cabral (BRA), Michael Ralethe Malumbete (RSA), Kemal Tamer (TUR) and Isato Igarashi (JPN) and FISU Staff member Christian Pierre (BEL) landed in Seoul today, April 6th, where they were awaited by Prime Minister of Korea, Mr. Han Seung-soo who invited them for lunch. They were joined by Gwangju Mayor Park Kwang-tae, Vice-Mayor Kim Yoon-suk and KUSB President Kim Chong-yang.

After lunch the delegates visited the President of the nation, Mr. Lee Myung-bak. The President welcomed the FISU members to Korea and stressed the fact that the city of Gwangju is the cradle of Korean democracy and a cultural center of the country. ‘The city has become a favorite destination for young Koreans who want to see were democracy for Korea started’, the President told the EvalCom members. ‘Gwangju is a vibrant city’, President Lee added. He furthermore fledged the full support of the national government for the 2015 Games.

‘Korea is a very active member association of FISU’, Mr. Bergh told the President. ‘It regularly organizes World University Championships; it has staged a Winter (1997) and a Summer Universiade (2003) and the Korean University Sports Board always sends a large delegation to both Universiades. We are looking forward to learn more about the 2015 bid, Mr. Bergh added.’

The Korean President is an avid sports fan and was very actively involved in the Korean Swimming Federation and FINA, the international swimming federation. In this capacity he worked close together with FISU Honorary Member and former FISU Vice-President and Japanese swimming legend Hironoshin Furuhashi. It’s a small world …

It was very much appreciated by the EvalCom members that the highest Korean authorities took the time to see the delegation whereas the North Korean rocket launch currently is dominating the country’s agenda.

After their meeting with the Korean President, the EvalCom members continued their travel to Gwangju where, after arrival, they had their first working session with the Bidding Committee. During this session an overview was given of the venues that will be used for the 2015 Summer Universiade.

Tomorrow, the FISU delegates will start their ‘road trip’ to visit and inspect the proposed venues.

Korean PM Mr. Han Seung-soo receives a FISU gift from EvalCom Chair Stefan Bergh

Mr. Bergh and President Lee

An exuberant crowd awaited the EvalCom members at the Gwangju Airport, a déjà-vu feeling for the members as this was also the case last year when Gwangju was a bidding candidate for 2013, but lost to Kazan.

The EvalCom mebers in session with the Bidding Committee