Russian Olympic Committee

The Russian Olympic Committee together with the Korean Tourism Organization embodied the ‘Road to Olympic Korea’ project within the ‘House of Fans’ project. Its main aim is to support the Russian Olympic team at the coming competitions and to promote the 2018 Games on the territory of the RF.

Legendary athletes became participants of the project, such as two-time Olympic champions in Figure Skating Tatyana Volosojar and Maxim Trankov, silvery and bronze medalist of the 2010 Olympic Games in Speed Skating Ivan Skobrev and two-time Olympic champion in Biathlon Svetlana Ishmuratova. They were joined by Anita Tsoy – honored artist of Russia, official ambassador of the Korea House of Fans.

The ‘Road to Olympic Korea’ project demonstrates what ‘Korean sports and lifestyle’ means.

During a week-long trip around the coming Olympic Games sites our champions visited a few sports venues, including the Gangneung Ice Arena, where in February Figure Skating and Short Track competitions will take place, and Alpensia Ski Resort in Pyeongchang. They had a chance to visit the Olympic Information Center and to practice Biathlon and Ski Jumping in virtual reality.

They also experienced total immersion in the Korean culture and everyday life: in the village Minsokchon, Yongin, project participants dressed in traditional Korean clothes and discovered simple people’s lifestyle.

In Inchon the Olympians visited the Paradise City entertainment-business center, where they  admired world art masterpieces and visited the presidential Suite and casino. In Seul they climbed the Seoul Sky Observatory, located on the 123-floor of the country’s tallest building – the Lotte World Tower.

In Gangneung, the Russian delegation visited the Haslla Art World arts theme park, a cultural platform to showcase the works of Korean and foreign artists, the Ojukheon House, a historical monument of the XVI century (the oldest wooden structure in Korea). And, of course, visited the future House of Fans!

Two-time Olympic champion of Turin 2006 in Biathlon Svetlana Ishmuratova stressed that for Russians it is natural to team up in hard times to overcome difficulties.

– Our trip to Korea was successful in my opinion, said Svetlana Ishmuratova in her interview with the ROC TV. The OLYMPIC hosts showed hospitality similar to Russian. Of course, the food in Korea was specific. The food was mostly spicy, unusual, but very diverse, so that you could find a dish to taste.

As for the sports venues, the finishing touch is being applied. By February everything will be ready. Last season in Pyeongchang pre-Olympic weeks in different sports were held, including the Biathlon World Cup stage, thus many of our athletes are already familiar with the Korean capital.

We need to cut to the chase, go to our goal, come and win. No one has the right to   deprive athletes of their dreams. The situation around the Russian sports is, of course, regrettable, but the Russian people often turn difficulties to their advantage. In the end, speakers at the sports venues will announce athletes from Russia and all the medals, won by them, will come home. And the fans will support, and sing the anthem, and greet the athletes at home as heroes, added Ishmuratova.