Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

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19. Olympic Village
The airline information center located
on the second floor of the Athletes'
Hall was run by 17 personnel from
Korean Air to provide necessary airline
information. They responded to a total
of 2,920 cases: 946 of reservations,
1,888 of flight confirmations, 84 of
passport issuance.
NOC Service Center
The NOC Service Center was located
on the first floor of the Athletes' Hall to
provide administrative information on
the Games. The center (139 square
meters) stayed open 16 hours daily
from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Services provided by the NOC Service
Center were wide ranging, from vehicle
allotment for delegations, to printing,
copier, typing, translation, mail,
conference room, lost and found,
equipment rental, visitors' meal ticket,
and box lunches for athletes. The service
center set down vehicle allocation
criteria so that athletes could use
private cars. There were eight
classifications on the basis of delegation
size. For the seven NOCs which
had over 501 athletes, five cars and
three minibuses were assigned, and
for the NOCs which had athletes
numbering less
than 25, one car was assigned. Total
number of vehicles employed was 373;
261 cars and 112 minibuses.
Vehicles for exclusive use were
available for use for 14 hours a day
from
8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The hours were
extended for special occasions and
requests for additional use were
accepted.
Printing services were limited to
English and French, and prices were
fixed according to the price posted by
the Office of Supply. Printing was serviced
by Sejin Printing Company from
outside the village, but there were only
two service requests.
For copier services, three copying
machines and eight personnel were
assigned to the Service Center. The
copying service was basically free
unless the order amount exceeded 10
pages. The service was used by 83
countries for 28,169 sheets, and fees
collected amounted to 2,636,600 won.
Typing was done in the typing room of
the NOC Service Center where two
interpreters and 14 typists worked two
separate shifts. They charged 1,500
won for one typed page; 25 countries
requested typing services for 168
pages for a total income of 252,000
won.
Translation service was done by two
translators (typing included) and the
scope of the service was limited to
English, French and Korean. Other
languages were referred to the outside
agencies from the MPC translation
pool. There were only three translation
requests and the fees collected were
150,000 won.
The NOC Service Center handled
ordinary mail as well as public
documents, registered mail, parcel
and special mail. It was also in charge
of telegram, facsimile and telex services.
There were 547 special
deliveries and 4,232 incoming or
outgoing facsimile transmissions. Gifts
forwarded to athletes were handled by
the NOC Service Center, and one set
each of hanging scroll and Seoul
Olympic coin were delivered to 160
NOCs. Special presents for specific
countries were also handled by the
Center.
The NOC Service Center operated
three conference rooms: the first conference
room (116 square meters, 84
seats), second conference room (281
square meters, 126 seats) and the
third conference room (165 square
meters, 114 seats). Between
September 7 and October 4, 121 conferences
were held, including 70 conferences
by delegations, and 51 conferences
by the Olympic leagues, the
IOC and other organizations.
Requests for use had to be received
by 8 p.m. one day prior and the time
allocation was limited to two hours.
• Lost and Found Center
The Lost and Found Center was
located inside the NOC Service
Center. Reports of all lost and found
articles were printed in the Olympic
newspaper and village paper. Between
September 2 to October 4, 72 articles
out of 371 reported lost articles were
found and returned to the owners, and
out of 160 articles reported found 104
were traced back to the owners.
• Equipment rental
The NOC Service Center rented
equipment to all NOCs. The equipment
rental plan was established in
May 1988. To apply for eqiupment
rental, 50% of the estimated rental
fees had to be deposited with the
accommodation fee account by July
31. A total of 31 NOCs applied for
rental services but three requests were
denied. According to the rental record,
28 countries rented equipment at a
total cost of 82.14 million won. By
NOC, the U.S.A. spent the most on
rentals with 32.14 million won. By item,
chairs were rented in 691 instances
followed by TVs in 198 cases, and
refrigerators, 224.
• Visitors' meal tickets
When delegates needed additional
meal tickets, they purchased the
tickets from the village bank with the
approval sheet issued by the NOC
Service Center. Prices were 10,000
won each for breakfast, lunch or
dinner, and payment was accepted
only in won. Requests for box lunches
were also received.
• IOC Counter
Two personnel from the IOC delegation
Commission were assigned to
spot problems and seek solutions. The
NOC service center received
souvenirs from each NOC to be
displayed in a commemorative
museum after the Olympics, and suggestion
windows were set up to receive
reports, of inconveniences or problems.