By Gitika Talukdar
Seoul, November 5: The Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) successfully conducted a four-day International “Seoul Olympic Legacy Forum 2024 at the Seoul Olympic Parktel hotel recently.
Thirty four delegates from 20 countries participated in the forum, held from 22 to 24, October 2024. The event attracted over 400 participants including members from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asia Pacific Conference (APC) Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as representatives from all the 20 countries reflecting high interest in the topic.
The Forum focused on discussions regarding the sustainable management of Olympic legacies and the advancement of mega sports events, featuring debates among experts in various fields.
Additionally, the global sports legacy management announced the “Global Sports ESG Declaration” aiming to create a better world through sports. The Chairman of Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) Cho Hyun-Jae said that a Look East Asia vision has been initiated to grow together as “Asia”. Asia should be the sports hub, which will not only help socio-economic growth of South Korea but other countries also.”
“The forum was a platform to discuss the value of the Olympic heritage and reaffirm the importance of attracting mega-sports events with global co-operation. In future, the Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation will do its best to promote the legacy of the Seoul Olympics to the world and contribute to the development of global sports beyond Korea. The Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation plans to continue cooperation and communication with the international sports community based on the successful results of this forum, “ he said.
During an interview the International Olympic Committee Member Khunyingpatam Leeswadtrakul said that creating such a platform where 20 countries gathered together is really a tremendous job by KSPO. IT gives a positive message to all global sports leaders about the potentiality of the Asian region in international sports. It also draws the attention of the western world towards Asia in terms of the socio-economic bilateral ties through the sports. Asia has an immense potential, better infrastructures, resources and human resources.
At the Forum speakers from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Switzerland, Mongolia, Australia made a very presentations.
The CEO of Asian Paralympic Committee Tarek Souei, Minister of Sports Governmnt of Maldives Abdul Razak, Ambassador WTTC/World Travel and Tourism Council Dho Young Shim and OCA Natalia Sipovich were some of the prominent faces in the forum.
OCA Member Natalia Sipovich said: “South Korea is a sports hub and the torch bearer to Asian nations. The country used sports mega-events as a soft power strategy to increase the country’s profile and promote a positive image abroad. One example of this was the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where South Korea introduced Taekwondo as a demonstration sport. Taekwondo became an official event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. And since then South Korea has been developing and shining in terms of sports and its legacy. South Korea is an example for all the neighbouring Asian countries to learn and follow to achieve such legacies.”
In addition to promoting sports tourism and B2B the forum had set up several booths for Mega Sports promoting South Korean sports, attracting the attention of the International participants’ eager to host International sports events in South Korea.
On the last day of the forum the overseas attendees participated in a Seoul Olympic Legacy tour and K-culture experience K-culture exploration. The participants visited key legacies of the Seoul Olympic 1988 and the Olympic museum. The foreign participants also got the opportunity to learn about tKimbap.
“I made kimbap and japchae (Korean food) is world popular these days preparing them by my own was a great experience and fun” said Abdul Razak, the Sports Minister of Maldives.
Kimbap is a traditional Korean dish of cooked rice, vegetables, fish, or meat rolled in dried seaweed sheets and cut into bite-sized pieces. Kimbap is also known as gimbap, which comes from the Korean words gim (seaweed) and bap (rice). Japchae is a popular Korean dish of potato starch noodles stir-fried with vegetables and seasoned with soy sauce. Japchae can be eaten hot, at room temperature, or cold.
Visiting to Gyeongbokgung Palace and experiencing wearing traditional cultural attire “hanbok” was really enthralling. Participants praised Seoul in unison, saying, “It was a special experience to feel Seoul, which has a harmonious combination of traditional and modernity, I will suggest my fellow citizens to visit South Korea to have a great experience of this sportive nation with humble people and great cultural values” said Carla Armanet CEO of Sydney Olympic Park, Australia.
The IOC member Khunyingpatam Leeswadtrakul, Thailand said that “the initiative taken by KSPO Korea Sports Promotion Foundation has been really appreciable with the announcement of “Global Sports ESG Declaration” which brought all the IOC, NOC’s, OECD, APC and AOC leaders to think beyond the boundaries and bring all the sports leaders to cooperate and work together at one platform to lead Asia in socio-economic reforms through sports and its legacies.
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