PyeongChang 2018 launches ‘Actualising the Dream’ project

"I am certain Actualising the Dream will fulfil its objectives and leave a lasting and sustainable legacy."

The PyeongChang Organising Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games has launched a new project which aims to develop Paralympic winter sports and athletes and raise awareness of issues regarding people with an impairment.

The ‘Actualising the Dream’ project was part of PyeongChang’s bid for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games and is a first for any Organising Committee.

As part of the project, the PyeongChang Organising Committee has developed 13 programmes under four different streams, all of which will aim to raise public awareness of the Games, increase participation in para-sport, grow the profile of the Paralympic Movement and leave a lasting legacy.

Over the coming years, PyeongChang 2018 will work closely with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Korean Paralympic Committee (KPC) in various programmes aimed at enhancing the performance of Korean Paralympians and promoting the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

This will include hosting a number of international competitions, staging an International Paralympic Day and expanding the scope of the existing Dream Programme.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven attended the project’s launch in Seoul, Korea, which took place in early July.

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, said: “I am delighted that the Actualising the Dream project will go some way to making for a stronger national team for the 2018 Games.

“Through hosting a range of competitions across all winter sports, expanding the athlete pool, raising the profile of Paralympic athletes, and educating millions of people across all age groups about the Paralympic Movement, I am certain Actualising the Dream will fulfil its objectives and leave a lasting and sustainable legacy.

“The athletes this project will create and develop will go on to not just become proud Paralympians, but agents for social change. By becoming ambassadors for the Paralympic Movement, they will spearhead attitudinal change, making for a more inclusive society.”

Also in attendance at the launch, aside from representatives from the Organising Committee were Sungil Kim, President of the Korea PaC and Kyungwon Na, IPC Governing Board member.

The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will take place between 9-18 March 2018.