POCOG president Lee expects winter sport boom in Asia

Lee Hee-beom, the president of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games organizing committee (POCOG) said on Tuesday he expected the 2018 Games to promote winter sports in Asia.

Winter sports have long been dominated by Europeans and North Americans, but the next two editions of the Winter Olympics to be held in Asia will significantly shift the balance, Lee said at a press conference in Sapporo, the host of the ongoing Asian Winter Games.

"With Pyongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, winter sports will move from Europe and North American to Asia," Lee said. "I think after PyeongChang and the Beijing Games, we will have more winter sports fans in Asia."

The PyeongChang Games will mark the second time for South Korea to host the Olympics, after Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Games.

Lee also said the Games would shine regardless of his country's ongoing political scandals that have led to the arrests of South Korean Culture Sports and Tourism minister Cho Yoon Sun and Lee Jae Yong, the heir apparent to the Samsung Group, a major Olympic and PyeongChang 2018 sponsor.

Lee also said the POCOG can learn a lot from Sapporo at the Asiad.

"When I first came to Sapporo, I was very surprised to see all the snow. Sapporo is fit to host the Asian Games with so much natural snow. I was also impressed with how nice the locals were in addition to the volunteers," Lee said.

"In 1972, Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympic Games. It was almost 50 years ago, and I was very impressed at how well the venues were preserved," Lee added. Endit