2018 Winter Olympics: Pyeongchang, South Korea

On Wednesday July 6th, 2011 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was casting the first round of votes for three finalists seeking to be awarded the honor as Host City for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Two of the cities hailed from Europe, Munich Germany and Annechy France. The other was from Asia, Pyeongchang South Korea. This mountainous city in the Gangwon-do province had experienced plenty of disappointment and heartache over the last decade. South Korea's Olympic Organizing Committee had made two previous bids for 2010 (Vancouver, Canada) and 2014 (Sochi, Russia). The latter was a bitter pill to swallow because the vote was so close.

Finally back to 2011 and the IOC made the historic selection of Pyeongchang as the the host of the 2018 edition of the Winter Olympics. The IOC stated it only took one round of voting which means the winning city received more than fifty percent of the vote. It also reflected the membership wanted to reward persistence and head back to the Asian continent. The lone representative as a host city from Asia in the past has been Japan (Sapporo 72' and Nagano 98'). This also validates the recognition of South Korea for it's rising progress in winter sports garnering medals in both figure and speed skating. Congratulations Pyeongchang and the whole country of South Korea, you earned it.