Gwangju, Korea – Next host of the 2019 FINA World Championships Budapest, Hungary – Today at a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, the Organising Committee for the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, Gwangju South Korea, revealed their plans and ambitions for the 2019 Championships, alongside the official launch of their emblem, mascot and website.
The 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships will take place in the South Korean city from July 12 to August 11, 2019, featuring both the FINA World Championships and the World Masters Championships. Under the slogan, ‘Dive into Peace’, Gwangju 2019 has promised to capitalise on its proud history as a city of democracy, human rights and peace, to create a unifying Championships that promotes positive values across the world. Located in the South West of the country, and easily-accessible from the capital Seoul, Gwangju has a population of approximately 1.5 million people.
With 30% of these inhabitants being students, Gwangju is a young, vibrant, modern city. The city is a hub for Asian culture, combining peaceful, natural beauty with the energy and buzz of the city centre, and aims to cater for all types of visitors. Gwangju is also a sports loving city, having previously played host to FIFA World Cup matches in 2002 and, more recently, the Summer Universiade (World University Games) in 2015.
Such hosting experience leaves the city well-placed to successfully host the FINA World Championships in 2019. For example, the Aquatics Centre at the city’s Nambu University will use many of the same facilities used for the Universiade, with the nearby Janseong lake similarly being utilised.
Excitingly, Gwangu 2019 have used the opportunity of the Budapest 2017 Championships to officially launch their new emblem and mascots. The emblem has been designed to symbolize ‘Waves of Peace’, and expresses the beautiful challenges that will face athletes arriving to Gwangju. The mascots for the Championships are otters, a flagship species of the neighbouring Mt. Mudeungsan that have returned to the Yeongsangang River of Gwangju.
The otters symbolise swimming freely as well the swimmers’ passion for challenge.
The new website perfectly complements these announcements, providing a wealth of information about the city, the plans for Gwangju 2019, and the organisational structure behind the Championships.
For more information, please visit: http://www.fina-gwangju2019.com/ Along with the announcements, Cho Young-Teck, Secretary-General and Vice President of the Organising Committee for Gwangju 2019, said: “The 2019 World Championships are a great opportunity to display the virtues for which Gwangju stands, democracy, human rights and peace. They also help earn a reputation as a city of sports and culture. The national government, the city of Gwangju and the Organising Committee, as well as the citizens of Gwangju, are all supportive of the World Championships, and we look forward to making them a great success.”
FINA President, Julio Maglione, further commented saying “We are very pleased with the progress of Gwangju in preparation for the 2019 World Championships. It is important for FINA to have a strong partner who is committed and dedicated to hosting an exceptional Championships, and we are certain that Gwangju will be a great success.”
Supplementary Information and Statistics The 2019 FINA World Championships and the FINA Masters Championships, will be held jointly from July 12 to August 11 for the first time in Korea. The competition of the event will take place over 31 days, which is 14 days longer than Olympics.
The FINA event is considered one of the 4 main international sporting events, together with the Summer and Winter editions of the Olympic Games, as well as the FIFA World Cup, in terms of size and potential. Approximately 200 countries from around the world will broadcast the Championships on television, providing a powerful platform to the sport and the city on a truly global stage.
The 3rd FINA World Championships in Asia, Following Japan and China The 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju will be the 18th in the history of the event. Gwangju will be the third Asian host in history, following Fukuoka, Japan, in 2001 and Shanghai, China, in 2011.
Belgrade, the Serbian capital, held the first competition in 1973 in the-then Yugoslavia, and the Championships have been conducted in the odd years since the 9th Championships in Fukuoka in 2001.
Since the 2015 Kazan World Championships, competitions for active professional swimmers have been held along with the Masters Championships. The FINA World Championships have established themselves as the most prestigious events supported by FINA, with world-class cities competitively bidding for the rights to host. Such prestige is demonstrated by the outstanding cities that have held FINA World Championships in the past 10 years. For example,
Melbourne, Australia (2007), Rome, Italy (2009), Shanghai, China 2011), Barcelona, Spain (2003 and 2013), Kazan, Russia (2015) and Budapest, Hungary (2017) have all recently organised FINA World Championships. 208 National Federations will join the “’Global Swimming Festival” 208 National Federations are expected to attend the FINA World Championships, with national teams from each country participating scheduled to stay in Gwangju from July 12 to 28, a total of 17 days.
The Championships are to be followed immediately by the Masters Championships, an event for swimming clubs from all over the world, which will be held for 14 days from July 29 to August 11. 75 events are prepared for 6 disciplines including swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, high diving and open water swimming.
The Masters Championships divide players into age groups, and based on such groups approximately 700 medals are awarded. Holding the World Championships for 17 days and the Masters Championships for 14 days allows Gwangju to have a true global swimming festival for over a month.
Hosting an incredible event The Organising Committee of Gwangju 2019 has prepared a comprehensive strategy to organise all areas of the competition. Such a strategy includes the specific plans for each event such as swimming, diving, water polo, and open water swimming.
Plans for remodelling and repairing stadiums are already well-advanced. Furthermore, a strategy is already in progress to implement and to ensure a truly impressive opening and closing ceremonies, as well as more practical elements such as the provision of excellent transportation and parking areas, as well as efforts to spread the cultural impact of Gwangju and Korea around the globe.
In particular, several factors are being considered and addressed to prepare for an international audience. These include aspects such as accommodation and traffic logistics, meals suited to foreigners’ tastes, shopping at a downtown duty-free shop, tourism offerings throughout the provinces in the south-west areas (Gwangju, Jeonnam and Jeonbuk).
All visitors will be welcomed by a comprehensive network of volunteers – the goal is to make sure fans, athletes and officials alike come for the competition but stay to experience the unique cultural aspects that Gwangju offers. Budgeting for the Championships The city of Gwangju, in partnership with the Organising Committee for the 18th FINA World Championships, have secured an investment from the national governing of USD $1.76m for 2016 and USD $43.1m in 2017 at government expense.
The total budget of USD $149.6m was allocated for the Championships at the government’s international budget examination in May. The main estimated expenses for the Championships consist of USD $91.8m for operating costs, USD $51.6m for facilities, and USD $7.2m for reserves.
The Organisation With two years to go, the Organising Committee for Gwangju 2019 has established a 3 phase plan in prepare for the games. In the first phase of this plan, which the Organising Committee is currently in, 35 employees are working for the Committee in five teams and two departments, all based in the headquarters in Gwangju.
The second phase will consist of an expansion in personnel from the existing 35 to 100 staff members, alongside the development of specific strategies in every department to ensure effective operation.
The five teams in the Organising Committee will be enlarged to 17 teams, six departments and 3 headquarters.
The main purpose of this re-organisation is to accelerate the work of the Committee, with specific operational plans being made for each element of work, including event management, location and resource availability, cultural activities, accommodation, transportation, media, and human resources.
In 2018, the third phase of the organisational preparation will be implemented, with an additional 80 staff members providing the final push in preparations.
Cultural Activities A variety of cultural activities will be held throughout the Gwangju 2019 Championships to demonstrate the charm and attraction of Gwangju. A Cultural Event Committee has already been established, they will advise the Organising Committee on the closing ceremony and various other cultural activities and events.
During the Closing Ceremony of the Budapest World Championships (July 30, 2017), a special performance will represent the host city transition from Budapest to Gwangju. This performance will portray the unique identity of Gwangju with the theme of ‘Light of Water, with the ‘Wave of Peace.’
The ceremony, which will include water and media art, and will be composed of four sections: ‘The Birth of Water’, ‘Water of Peace’, ‘Invaluable Water’, and ‘An Invitation to Gwangju.’ In 2019, various cultural events are being planned. Many discussions are ongoing with local cultural institutions, including the International Asia Culture Center, to create unique events for the Championships.
In addition, there are ongoing plans to assess the potential that annual cultural activities taking place in Gwangju, such as the Design Biennale, the Kimchi Festival and the Chungjang Festival, will take place during the competitions. Gwangju under the Spotlight Approximately 2,500 athletes from 181 countries participated in the 2013 Barcelona World Championships. 209 countries broadcasted the competitions on TV, and the total cumulative audience of approximately 4.5 billion.
For the Kazan World Championships in 2015, an estimated 2,650 competitors visited Russia to take part, with a record aggregated global TV viewership of over 6.8 billion, representing something of a 2.3 billion increase in two years. Due to such extraordinary exposure, the hosting the FINA World Championships represents a great opportunity for the host city. With this in mind, the 2019 Gwangju Championships are considered to be a unique opportunity for Gwangju, the city of democracy, human rights, and peace, to also become an ‘international city of sports and culture’.
Public Relations The slogan for the Gwangju 2019 has been established, ‘Dive Into Peace’. This slogan describes the vision of Gwangju 2019 as an event where swimming and sport inspire fans and athletes collectively to bridge divides, restore unity and promote world peace. Visual symbols of the Championships have also been developed, including the emblem, which symbolises ‘Waves of Peace’, and expresses the beautiful challenges that will face athletes while competing in Gwangju.
The mascots for the Championships are otters, a flagship species that have returned to the Yeongsangang River of Gwangju. The otters who swim freely symbolise the swimmers’ passion for challenge. Utilising these symbols, a three phase approach of planning public relations has been developed by the Gwangju 2019 Organising Committee. The first phase of this approach is to create public awareness of the Championships.
A public relations office will be established downtown, with the press office releasing information about the developments at regular intervals. In 2018, the second phase of the public relations campaign will be initiated. This phase will focus on the development of long-term plans in order to attract more participation in the Masters Championships from neighbouring countries in Asia such as China and Japan, as well as European and North American countries, where swimming is very popular.
The third stage of the Organising Committee’s marketing effort will consist of a more extensive campaign. This will focus on attracting swimmers from around the world, intensifying the public outreach campaigns and establishing a clear ‘city brand’. Domestically, the Organising Committee will focus on building swimming experience centres throughout Korea and hosting local events in Gwangju and Jellanam-do Province.
In order to publicise the Championships globally, online public relations campaigns will be promoted using social networking sites such as Facebook, Weibo and YouTube, alongside developing a close relationship with international sports media. Venues The city of Gwangju and the Organising Committee for the Championships are ready to host, in fact there will be no new buildings needed.
Rather just a few enhancements and temporary facilities are planned. Among the five venues that will be used, two will be remodelled to enhance capacity, and the others will be prepared with temporary facilities, with consideration for construction and post management expenses.
The Nambu University International Swimming Pool, where swimming and diving events will be held, has been built for the 2015 Summer Universiade. It has 3,290 seats for spectators, and this will be enlarged to 11,000. The operations centre and the training area will also be constructed at this venue. The open water swimming competition will take place at Jangseong Lake, where 2,000 seats will be established.
Three temporary facilities for synchronized swimming, water polo and high diving will be installed at Gwangju Yeomju Stadium, Jinwol International Tennis Court and the City Hall Culture Square of Gwangju. Athletes Village In order to manage costs, the city of Gwangju and the Organising Committee for Gwangju 2019 are planning to remodel its Songjeong Jugong Apartments to 1,660 households.
This renovation is due to be completed by March 2019, and will accommodate approximately 6,500 athletes during the competition. Songjeong Jugong Apartments was selected as the athletes village following an extensive bid process, with the contract for construction being finalised in August 2016.
As part of the agreement, 962 existing families have been resettled in new accommodations and compensated. The Apartments will begin accepting athletes in July 2019, with interior designs and convenient facilities being fully prepared by June 2019. Construction work was started in February of this year and 85% (at a 4.8% rate of progress) has been completed at the moment.
The apartments will then be used to the community afterwards as permanent living spaces. FINA Accommodation, Transportation and Resources Accommodations will be provided for 3 main groups; athletes, FINA family and the media.
A wide range of accommodations will be allotted on to ensure the total amount of these three groups is well catered for by June 2018 before starting the competition, representing 1 year before the start of the Championships. After evaluating overall services, detailed operating plans concerning transportation will be put in place from January 2018, including a proposal to provide free public transportation for the participants having Championships accreditation cards or tickets.
The standard for customs entry, as confirmed by FINA, will also be applied in specifying planning as well as plan for mandatory drug testing to be conducted in 2018.
The overall plans for necessary resources for the first half of 2018 will be made, based on the preexamination of previous competitions or related institutions.
Possible North Korean National Team Participation The participation of North Korea in the 18th FINA World Championships in Gwangju is expected to contribute to setting the peach in the Korean Peninsula. As North Korea is a FINA member, they will have every opportunity to participate in the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.
The mayor of Gwangju, Dr. Yoon Jang Hyun has promised to do its utmost to persuade North Korea to take part in the Gwangju World Championships. Gwangju 2019 offers a tremendous opportunity to stabilise relations and have a lasting legacy of peace.