*This content was translated by AI.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young visited the "2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics South Korea's delegation decision ceremony" held at Olympic Parktel Olympia Hall on the 22nd to encourage our athletes, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
About 100 officials from the Korea Sports Association and sports organizations, including Yoo Seung Min, president of the Korea Sports Association, and Lee Soo-kyung (president of the Korea Skating Union), attended the decision ceremony, which wished the participating athletes well and was determined to participate.
The Winter Olympics will be held from February 6 to 22 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The South Korean team will participate in six events with a total of 140 players, including 60 athletes. The squad will leave the country on January 30 and return home on February 23.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has established a close cooperation system with related agencies to support athletes' safe participation in the competition. Under the leadership of Kim Dae-hyun, the second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Center for Counter-Terrorism, the Ministry of Unification, and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are jointly operating a preparatory team for related. In the region where the competition will be held, the team plans to form and operate a comprehensive situation room with the Korean Sports Council to closely support the team during the competition.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sports Council have established and operated crisis response guidelines (manuals) to respond quickly and systematically to various crisis situations that may occur during the competition. Pre-training on the recently changed game regulations for each event was conducted, and guidelines for each event were distributed for the response system in the event of a misjudgment. A joint response system was also discussed with related ministries to prepare for various situations such as errors related to national symbols and player injuries.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sports Council are providing comprehensive support to improve the performance of the team by reflecting the characteristics of winter sports. Since July 2025, it has supported customized training equipment, overseas training, and participation in international competitions through the "2026 Milan-Cortina Team Up Korea" project. In addition, it is expanding psychological counseling support through sports psychiatrists, providing scientific and systematic support such as close management based on sports medicine and science, and integrated analysis of performance using artificial intelligence (AI) to support athletes to perform at their best.
In this competition, we will also operate a local food service support center to help our athletes adapt to the local area and maintain their performance. Considering the fact that the stadium is distributed in several regions, including Milan, Cortina d'Ampezzo, and Valtellina, meal support centers will be set up in three areas where the stadium is located for the first time in the Olympics. The Food Service Support Center plans to provide about 3,500 Korean lunch boxes from February 6 to 22 to help players maintain their best condition even in unfamiliar environments.
Minister Choi Hwi-young said, "I hope the South Korean team will play its game safely and valiantly on the ice and snow fields of 'Milano-Cortina d'Ampezzo'. I will support the people to show their efforts and journeys on the world stage," he said.
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*This content was translated by AI.
