30 Years of Race, the Way of Sports
Oct 03, 2024
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The starting point of Korean racing dates back to the time when Jamsil Main Stadium and Olympic Park were built to host the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Seoul Olympics, and gymnastics, fencing, and swimming stadiums, including bicycle stadiums (Olympic Velodrome), were built in the park.
Since large international competitions were held in succession, other stadiums such as gymnastics stadiums have been used as various sports competitions and performance halls, but Jamsil Velodrome, which cost more than 10 billion won at the time, had difficulty in maintenance and was unable to come up with sharp utilization measures because it was a bicycle-only stadium.
To solve this problem, the Seoul Olympic Memorial National Sports Promotion Foundation conducted a full-scale study and review of the application plan and concluded that it is best to pursue the bicycle race project. After that, the basis for this was established through the 1991 Crane and Correction Act. Later, in July 1993, through a series of processes leading to the implementation of the race track and permission to install the race track, Korea became the third country in the world after Denmark and Japan.
The first road that Korean bicycle will make, the beginning of the 30-year journey, has risen.
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Finally, on October 15, 1994, the opening ceremony was held at Jamsil Velodrome with 2,000 customers and domestic and foreign guests.
However, on the first day of the history of Korean racing, there was as much regret as expected. The rain poured for three consecutive days, and no official race was held in the first week of the opening. Jamsil Velodrome's track is made of wood, so if it rains, the bicycle slides and you can't play.
It wasn't until the following week, October 22 that the first race was held. However, the audience was around 300 and the sales were around 12 million won. With the number of spectators and sales that have been prepared for years but far below expectations 'Can the economy succeed in Korea?There were also high voices of concern that "'.
As such, the start of the bicycle business, which anchored after twists and turns, was weak, but it grew dramatically through various changes such as racing method and Seungsik. In 2000, the seventh year of its implementation, it achieved 1 trillion won in sales, and in 2002, it achieved a record-high 2.3 trillion won in sales. However, sales plummeted by more than KRW 1 trillion in 2005 due to the 「Sea Story Crisis」.
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In addition, just four years ago, the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic stopped racing and led to an unprecedented situation of borrowing management. However, it successfully launched an online release system 'SpeedOn'.
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Looking back at the footsteps of the past 30 years, it has been successful enough to transform barren land into jade soil, and it has firmly maintained the original purpose of the project, such as creating a healthy leisure culture and expanding local finances.
First of all, the amount of contributions to public finances such as leisure tax, education tax, and special tax on farming and fishing villages reached 6.82 trillion won by last year. In addition, all of the profits, excluding some expenses, were returned to society by 1.71 trillion won until last year through the Sports Promotion Fund, Youth Development Fund, Culture and Arts Promotion Fund, and local financial support.
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Now, the headquarters of the Korea Racing Authority is in the midst of preparing for the new 30 years of the Korea Racing Authority project. On October 11, a ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of the bicycle race will be held at Gwangmyeong Speedome to declare the vision of '30th anniversary of the bicycle race, promise to customers'.
wman@sportschosun.com
