Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

11. Competition Management
by Sport
354
11.23
Yachting
The Olympic yachting competition was
conducted at the yachting course in
Pusan's Suyong Bay from September
20 to 27.
It was there near the yachting location
that the SLOOC set up its Pusan
Office, and the opening and closing
ceremonies for yachting were
separately held. An athletes subvillage
was operated there.
The yachting competition drew 402
male athletes, 54 female athletes, and
222 officials from 60 countries.
Eight events were held, including one
for men, one for women and six for
both men and women.
Until the 23rd Games at Los Angeles
in 1984, yachting had been staged
with both men and women combined.
The International Yacht Racing Federation
(IYRF), however, divided the 470
class into men and women, resulting
in a men's event, a women's event and
events for both men and women.
Until Seoul was awarded the right to
stage the Olympic Games, yachting
had not been widely introduced to
Korea. The SLOOC basically had to
start from scratch with respect to the
cultivation of key operation personnel,
acquisition of competition personnel,
and the improvement of local yachting
skills.
11.23.1
Competition
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Preparations
When plans were afoot to bid for the
right to the Olympics in Seoul, staging
of the yachting competition was a
matter of debate. The Korea Yachting
Association was organized in March
1979, and affiliated with the IYRF in
November the same year.
Until Seoul obtained the right to stage
the Olympics in September 1981,
Korea had no yachting race course;
the Korea Yachting Association existed
in name only.
In consultation with related agencies,
the SLOOC selected Suyong Bay as a
candidate site for the Olympic yachting.
The SLOOC's yachting competition
planning focused on the construction
of the yachting course, popularization
of yachting as a sport, and the
development of yachting competition
management ability by securing key
operational staff members. It was the
goal of the SLOOC to construct the
yachting course, by soliciting private
builders for utilizing the course and
facilities for tourist and leisure purposes
following the Games.
A pleasant environment, traffic conditions
and weather conditions were
taken into consideration in selecting
the location of the course. The Daewoo
Group was the selected as private contractor
for the course construction.
When the location of the yachting
course was determined, specialists
from the IOC, IYRF and other organizations
made a series of field investigations
at the site. The IYRF approved
the selection on the condition that pre-
Olympics be staged annually for three
years between 1985 and 1987.
Course construction started in June
1983, and provisional schedules for
yachting competitions of the Seoul
Asian Games and the Olympic Games
were drawn up.
In the course of consultations with the
IYRF on the yachting competition
schedule, the SLOOC agreed to sponsor
the 3rd Asia Yachting Competition
as a 1985 pre-Olympic event from
September 17-25, to stage the 10th
Seoul Asian Games yachting competition
as a pre-Olympic test for 1986,
and to hold an international yachting
competition from September 20-29,
1987 as a pre-Olympic event. The
SLOOC decided to hold the events of
the 1987 international yachting competition
in the same classes as for the
Seoul Olympics: Solings Division II,
Finns, Stars, Flying Dutchman, Tornadoes,
and 470's for men and women.
The yachting site, covering 132,232
square meters of land and sea surface
covering 99,048 square meters, was
dedicated in May 1986 after two years
and 10 months of construction.
A three-storey operation center building
with a combined floor space of
6,412 square meters was constructed,
along with a stand with a seating
capacity of 2,100. A 488-meter breakwater
and 748-meter quay provided
facilities capable of berthing 1,364
vessels.
By the time port facilities for the yachting
course were nearing completion,
the sea water in the yachting course
had been contaminated by waste water
flowing from the Suyong Stream into
the bay, posing a serious threat to the
water quality.
Construction projects got under way to
remove water contaminants, including
installation of a waste water treatment
station on the Suyong Stream, dredging
the mouth of the stream and
installing fences to keep floating
objects from flowing into the course.
After the first stage of the project was
completed in May 1986, the yachting
course was used for the 10th Seoul
Asian Games yachting competition. In
preparation for the 1987 International
Yachting Competition and the 1988
Olympics, the course underwent massive
repair work on two occasions.
The Suyong Bay boasts of clear skies
for an average of 264 days a year, wind
speed is 4.5 to 32 meters per second,
and wave height is two to four meters;
the course was judged appropriate for
the Olympic yachting events.
The SLOOC relocated the Yachting
Division of the Sports Operation
Department II to the Pusan venue.
The yachting competition operational
body, which started with a staff of
seven, grew to cover two divisions with
19 staff members as it was reshaped
into the Pusan Office. A sub-village for
the athletes was set up in Pusan, and
separate opening and closing ceremonies
were scheduled there. As a result,
the Pusan Office was expanded to the
level of a department, with three divisions
and 47 staff members.
In order to cultivate specialized operation
personnel to perform key roles for
yachting competition management,
the SLOOC sent a total of 24 persons
on research missions overseas on 11
occasions between 1982 and 1987.
Under the IOC solidarity program, the
SLOOC invited foreign specialists to
conduct education for operation
personnel on 25 occasions.
The Yachting Operations completed its
lineup of key members in August 1987,
and beginning in March 1988 went into
an actual operation mode.
The organizational hierarchy of the
operations was made up of the commissioner,
four directors, 12 managers
and eight officers; the staffing comprised
53 SLOOC officials, 1,618 volunteers,
1,148 support personnel, and 20
temporary employees. In addition, 778
contract personnel assisted in the
conduct of the competitions.
11.23.2
Pusan Sub-Village
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The SLOOC originally planned to build
apartments in the sub-village like the
ones in the Olympic Village in Seoul,
and to make the apartments available
for sale following the Games. However,
the plan was dropped because of
difficulties involved in the selection of
a construction site as well as in the
construction work. The SLOOC instead
decided to utilize tourist hotels and
condominiums in the Pusan region.
Among the hotels which were considered
for accommodating the athletes,
the Pusan Hyatt was then under construction,
while the owner of the Pusan
Kukdong Hotel refused to lease the
hotel; the owner of the Paradise Beach
Hotel was also reluctant to lease all
rooms.
It was agreed that the SLOOC would
use the Hanguk Condominium as the
first sub-village and the Glory Condominium
as the second sub-village.
On August 6, 1987, the SLOOC and the
two condominium owners signed
agreements on the designation of the
condominiums as sub-villages.
The Hanguk Condominium, consisting
of three basement levels and 18
storeys, provided 190 rooms; and the
Glory Condominium, having two basement
levels and 17 storeys, provided
242 rooms. Both condominiums are
located adjacent to the Suyong Bay
yachting course.
Park Sung-gi, chairman of the board of
directors of a school foundation in
Pusan, was commissioned to serve as
sub-village mayor. The sub-village
opened to the athletes with an opening
ceremony held on September 3, 1988,
and closed on October 3.