100 Days to YOG; Kim Named Innsbruck Ambassador; Iconic Favela Demolition

10/5/2011

Yu Na Kim Joins Innsbruck 2012

Figure skating icon Yu Na Kim of South Korea is the latest Winter Youth Olympic Games ambassador.

“The Youth Olympic Games are an exceptional event and I am excited to be part of the first-ever winter edition,” she said Wednesday in a statement.

Her appointment comes 100 days before the opening of Innsbruck 2012.

“Having competed as an athlete since a very young age, I can relate to the participants of Innsbruck 2012 and I hope I can share my knowledge, passion and experience to motivate them to reach their potential.”

Kim follows in the footsteps of fellow winter sports stars Lindsey Vonn and Benjamin Raich, both recent appointments as YOG ambassadors.
 
IOC president Jacques Rogge added: “I am sure that as a Youth Olympic Games Ambassador she will inspire young people to compete in winter sports.”

The inaugural winter YOG runs from Jan. 13 to 22.
 
PyeongChang Bid Closes

The PyeongChang 2018 bid committee is officially shut down.

An email from Muchol Shin, the bid’s director general for communications, bore Wednesday's news.
 
Shin said he will now return to Korean Air, his original employer, after Yang Ho Cho was passed over for the job of organizing committee chair in favor of former Gangwon Province governor Jin Sun Kim. Cho is chair of Korean Air and led the bid.
 
“Please keep a warm eye on PyeongChang for the next seven years, as I will,” Shin wrote in the email.

It's unclear if other Korean Air employees will return to the airline.
 
The first meeting of the PyeongChang 2018 organizing committee will take place Oct. 19.

Favela Demolition

The city of Rio de Janeiro will demolish the Vila Autódromo favela for the 2016 Olympics.
 
Vila Autódromo is in close proximity to the Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca.
 
Demolition is planned to be complete by 2013, according to a draft proposal released by the city’s public works department.

Residents will be moved to a new housing development about one kilometer away, the city said.

Estimates peg the cost at more than $700 million.
 
Brazilian newspaper O Globo reports the move is sure to spark controversy as the favela is viewed “as a kind of symbol of resistance” to forced displacement due to Olympic and World Cup works.

Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations’ rapporteur on adequate housing, was quoted by O Globo saying: “Every relocation is traumatic. This seems to me more an economic issue, not wanting a slum area valued after the Olympics.”

Russian Training Camp

Russia’s Olympic swimmers have a home in London before the Games.

Millfield School in Street, Sommerset was announced on Tuesday as the team’s training camp site for the 2012 Olympics. Russia plans to send 60 swimmers to London.

"It's very important for the team to prepare both physically and mentally for the Games and Millfield is an excellent place for us," said Andrei Vorontsov, performance manager for the team.

Millfield Headmaster Craig Considine said: “We are proud to host the Russian swimming team ahead of the Games next summer.

“Millfield has always had a strong connection with the Olympics and we’re delighted to be able to play a part in London 2012 legacy.”

Canadian Pan Am Flag Bearer

Christine Sinclair is Canada’s flagbearer for the 2011 Pan American Games.

She was given the honor on Tuesday.

Canada is sending its second-largest team in Pan Am history to Guadalajara later this month.

Competition opens Oct. 14.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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