The Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics concluded with the closing ceremony held in Verona, Italy on the 23rd. While Norway claimed the top overall position for the fourth consecutive time, South Korea finished 13th with a total of 10 medals, including 3 gold. Short track, represented by Kim Gil-li and Choi Min-jung in the women's relay, once again proved to be Korea's medal powerhouse. Choi Min-jung, in particular, added 2 more medals at this Games, bringing her total to 7 and making her Korea's most decorated Olympic medalist. Additionally, snowboarder Choi Ga-on delivered a deeply moving come-from-behind victory on her third Olympic attempt. However, Korea felt the gap with the world's best in other events such as skiing, skating, sledding, and curling. The selection of bobsledder Won Yun-jong as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes' Commission member was a significant achievement in sports diplomacy.
This Olympics was a celebration showcasing Italy's winter sports infrastructure and cultural pride. Many firsts were attempted, including the two-city Olympic naming, simultaneous opening ceremonies and torch lighting in two cities, athlete processions from four regions, competition venues spread across six regions, and the closing ceremony held in Verona, which hosted no competitions. Notably, with most venues located more than 400km from Milan, the central host city, there were various operational challenges.
Domestic interest was limited due to exclusive broadcasting by a single network and time differences, though Naver garnered positive response from younger generations through its full-event online streaming via its platform 'Chzzk.' Attention is on whether the broadcaster holding World Cup and Summer Olympics rights will collaborate with public networks to boost national interest. Beyond Samsung and Cass (AB InBev), the global partners of this Olympics, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee sponsors including BestSleep, Upbit, and Woori Financial actively engaged in advertising activities, and some companies conducted indirect marketing through athlete and national team support, but enthusiasm remained low.
This Olympics offers many implications for South Korea as it seeks to host the '2036 Jeonju Summer Olympics.' Amid the IOC's push for venue reuse and sustainability, this was the first Olympics to be held across multiple dispersed cities. Korea's plan is to host the Olympics at 51 venues through urban solidarity, centered on Jeonju and including several cities within North Jeolla Province as well as Seoul, Gwangju, Daegu, and Cheongju.
However, the Jeonju Olympics, according to North Jeolla Province's projections, would involve 206 countries, 16,000 athletes, and 8.5 million visitors—a massive scale incomparable to the Winter Olympics. Milan hosted just 92 countries and 2,900 athletes. Everything must be meticulously planned, including whether to build distributed Athletes' Villages and media centers, transportation between venues, security, accommodations for volunteers and general tourists. In this regard, the successful hosting of the '2027 Chungcheong Universiade,' to be held across Daejeon, Sejong, and North and South Chungcheong Province, is crucial. It will serve as a testing ground for distributed hosting of international sporting events in Korea.
Cities competing to host the Olympics are capitals or major cities of their respective countries, equipped with various cultural infrastructure. Currently, about 10 countries including Saudi Arabia's Riyadh, Qatar's Doha, and Turkey's Istanbul have expressed interest. To differentiate from these cities, Korea must strongly emphasize balanced regional development through distributed hosting, low-cost high-efficiency operations, and cultural diversity. The Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics provides many lessons for the Jeonju Olympic bid, which could become an important opportunity to elevate Korea's national standing.