Gwangju Wins Bid for 2019 Swimming Worlds

Gwangju has been named the host of the 2019 world swimming championships. World governing body FINA announced in Barcelona on Friday that the city in the southern part of Korea has been picked based on presentations without voting.

Budapest, which bid for both the 2019 and 2021 championships, was chosen to host the later event.

In this year's event being held in Barcelona until Aug. 5, over 2,500 athletes from more than 180 countries have gathered to compete for 67 gold medals. In 2019, over 20,000 athletes are expected to come to Gwangju as another high-profile event, the Masters Worlds for swimmers aged 25 and above, will take place on the sideline of the championships.

 

 

Residents of Gwangju celebrate in the city hall after the southwestern city was named the host of the 2019 world swimming championships on Friday.

However there were some nervous moments several hours before the announcement as the city's preparatory committee for the event was accused of forging a signature of high-ranking government officials in a bid document.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the committee forged the signatures of former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and former Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik in a document guaranteeing that the government's financial support would be similar to that given for the 2011 Daegu IAAF World Championships in Athletics.