Less than nine months ahead of the opening ceremony, PyeongChang is ready to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, barring minor details, organizing committee vice president Kim Jae-Youl said Monday.
"We are right on track in terms of hardware and software," Kim told AFP in Paris where he is attending the World Ice-Hockey Championships.
Kim said that 12 venues for the Games that are divided into two clusters in the eastern coastal region of South Korea, about one-hour by high-speed train from Seoul, are 97 per cent complete.
"The 22 test events went really well and we just have some minor details that we have to work on."
He said that athletes competing in the test events as well as international federations and the International Olympic Committee gave 'great' feedback and the organisers had acted on it.
"If the athletes are happy, then we are happy," he said. "The remaining days are for perfecting the plan."
However, a key concern surrounding the weather and the potential absence of snow for the Feb. 9-25 Games remains.
"It is hard to predict how the weather will be and whether or not we will get snow," said Kim. But he added that with its elevation of more than 700m, snow events will take place in sub-zero temperatures.
"We had plenty of snow for the test events and conditions were great," he said.
"We usually have snow at that time of year but in case we don't, we have the capacity to generate more than enough artificial snow."
The organising committee are upbeat about ticket sales, he said, despite a disappointing initial response from the public.
Barely a quarter of the tickets made available by lottery from February 9 this year were sold before the closing date last month in a country there is little traditional support for winter sports.
"We are very optimistic about tickets sales over time," said Kim.
"The test events had a big impact in Korea and generated a lot of interest. I think we have made a good start."
