Gwangju, a southwestern metropolitan city which seeks to become one of the world’s premium sports destinations, pins high hopes on getting the chance to host the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
The city presented a formal bid on April 8 to the FINA, the global governing body of swimming, to host the World Championships in 2019.
With a FINA evaluation team set to arrive Monday for an on-site tour, Gwangju plans to showcase its suitability and citizens’ aspirations to bring the high-profile sporting event to the city.
Officials including Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae (eighth from left) applaud during a groundbreaking ceremony at Nambu University in Gwangju on April 24 for a swimming pool to be used in the 2015 Summer Universiade. (Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall)
“We will try to spotlight the strong points of our city and our hosting experience,” Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae said. “We will show them the 1.5 million Gwangju citizens’ aspirations to host the event.”
The FINA World Championships are one of the three mega events for a single sport, along with the World Cup of soccer and the IAAF World Championships for track and field. The FINA holds the championships every two years on an odd-numbered year.
If the bid is successful, the event will bring about 7,000 athletes and officials to Gwangju from some 200 countries and help showcase the city to the world. They will compete in five events: swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open-water swimming.
Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae promotes the city’s bid for the 2019 FINA World Championships during a recent Association of International Sports Press Congress in Sochi, Russia. (Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall)
Should Gwangju host the FINA World Championships, about 13,000 athletes from all over the world will also come to the city to compete in the World Masters Championships. From 2015, the host city of the world championships is to organize the amateur aquatic event as well, following the championships.
City officials also expect to gain strong publicity traction from the FINA World Championships, which are normally exposed to a worldwide TV audience of about 1 billion people and carried by other news media outlets with a total of 4 billion viewers.
The world championships will undoubtedly deliver a significant boost to the economy of both the city and the country. Estimated economic benefits in terms of output are 1.4 trillion won ($12 billion) for Gwangju and 2.4 trillion won for the country.
As a major attraction of Gwangju, officials point out the hosting experience to be gained from the upcoming 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju. Once it is elected as the host city, Gwangju will be able to operate the FINA World Championships cost-effectively as it can utilize the same aquatic venue used in the Universiade. Officials say that the city would host the event without having to construct a new facility. It will be able to use a swimming pool at Nambu University and a multipurpose gymnasium at Kwangju Women’s University.
Other cities have seen the synergic effect from using the same venue for two or more internationals.
Daegu, a southeastern metropolis of South Korea, hosted the Universaide and then the IAAF World Championships. Kazan in Russia, the host city for the 2013 Universiade, will hold the 2015 FINA World Championships.
On April 24, Gwangju broke ground for a swimming pool to be used in the 2015 Summer Universiade. It will be built at Nambu University with flexible seating capacity, which can be increased from 3,590 seats to 15,000 seats if Gwangju is awarded the 18th FINA World Championships in 2019.
Operational know-how to be learned from the 2015 Universiade will play a key role in a successful running of the FINA competition. Supporters and volunteers for the Universiade will also be able to provide invaluable assistance, officials said.
The FINA inspection team consists of five working-level officials. They are expected to focus on technical matters contained in the city’s bidding proposals.
Regarding facilities, Gwangju plans to highlight the concept of holding most races in a single venue. The main facility of the venue will be a swimming pool whose ground was broken on April 24.
The FINA will elect the host city for the 2019 World Championships through a majority vote by its 22 bureau members in Barcelona, Spain, on July 19.
By Chun Sung-woo (
swchun@heraldcorp.com)