754 Days, 8½ Times Around the World: A Journal of Sweat and Passion

- Gwangju City release 2 white papers detailing to whole story of winning the rights to stage the 2015 Summer Universiade

Gwangju City have released white papers covering the process behind the city being awarding its first international sports event, the 2015 Summer Universiade.

“Two white papers, one covering the bidding process, and one exploring behind-the-scenes stories, will cover the whole 754-day story, from the first public announcement of the intent to bid on April 30th 2007, up to the day the city received the games on May 23rd 2105,” said a Gwangju City Hall announcement. Titled ‘The Greatest Challenge, The Bid for Glory’, the bidding process paper is 470 pages long and details the full story, including the failure to land the 2013 games, the decision to bid again and the successful conclusion.

It contains six chapters, covering the bidding process in pictures, a history of FISU (International University Sports Federation), a history of the Universiade, Gwangju’s bid and failure (for the 2013 Universiade), the second bid and success (for 2015 games), and from receiving the games until present day. It contains many charts and graphics, media clips and related material, and also some words of advice from FISU President George Killian and FISU Korean Head Kim Jong-ryang (President of Han-yang University) on how to host a successful games.
In particular, the paper is well-organised, and contains valuable information on basic principles and strategies to market an international sporting event, and Gwangju’s own knowhow gained through the bidding process, which will be useful when bidding for future events. While the first paper is a record of the whole bidding process, the second paper is 200 pages capturing behind-the-scenes stories from that time.

Titled ‘City of Light, Gwangju Catches the Universiade Star’, the paper features five key stories in 22 episodes, from the moment it all started when Gwangju declared their bid, through the equivalent of travelling 8½ times around the world during the bidding process, the public debates following the 2013 failure before deciding to re-bid, until the glorious finale in landing the 2015 Summer Universiade. This paper vividly describes important parts of the bidding process which were not revealed in public materials, on the road to Gwangju being awarded its first international sporting event.
“The award of the 2015 Summer Universiade came as a result of two years of sweat and hard work from Gwangju residents, civic groups and local government,” said Gwangju City Mayor Park Gwang-tae in publication.
“We will remember the effort and passion by all to make this bid successful, and thus try our utmost to make the world take notice of Gwangju by hosting the most successful Universiade in the games’ history.” Gwangju City will distribute the white papers to local councils and physical education departments across Korea’s 16 local autonomous cities and provinces, and to public and private libraries, for use as reference materials.