South Korea is no stranger in organising major sports events. It hosted three Universiades (Winter 1997: Muju, Jeonju, Summer 2003: Daegu & 2015: Gwangju) and two Olympic Games (Summer 1988: Seoul and Winter 2018: PyeongChang). Apart from the participating athletes, the Olympics left a memorable experiences also to youth participants in accompanying events and projects. Moritz Belmann from Germany shared his story with EUSA.

I travelled with the German Olympic Youth Camp to PyeongChang. The Youth Camp allows young athletes and young people who are engaged in sports, to experience the Olympics for the first time. We organized a full program. They had the chance to watch different competitions during the games and support the German team. Of course the youth and the leaders celebrated the German medals in Biathlon, Luge and Ski Jumping. In addition, the German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and his wife welcomed the German Youth Camp in the German house. We had a nice conversation with them about the sport system and the future of the Olympics. During the two weeks other politicians and German Olympic Sport Association's council members used the chance to speak with these young people about their future. The exchange with the leaders underlined that the German system is complicated and it is a challenge for every young athlete and volunteer to be involved in sports. Nevertheless the talks strengthend the motivation of every participant to continue their ways.



With the Youth Camp I had chance to a view in the inner circle of the Olympics. I visited the Olympic village in PyeongChang and met some German athletes. It was very impressive to see the athlete's lives during the Olympics. We used the chance to visit the World Anti-Doping Agency in the village, too. The fight against doping was an important part of the Youth Camp. During the weeks we've spoken a lot about clean sports and possibilities to be ambassador for sport without doping. These topics were summed up in an education program. The participants learned a lot about the Olympic movement, its challenges for the future and the Korean culture. Cause of a cooperation with the Goethe-Institute Seoul and the city of Gangneung, the youth had the chance to participate in an exchange program with Korean youth. During this program they learned a lot about the Korean daily life. It was impressive to see how different the German and Korean way of life is. In Korea the education system is pretty hard and the youth needs to stay at school much longer than the German youth. They don't have so many chances to go to sport or do other activities after their school.



The visit in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea was the cultural and political highlight of this year German Olympic Youth Camp. It was unbelievable to see the border, the structure around and the propaganda on both sides. We learned a lot about the current situation and the conflict between these two countries. The most impressive part was a North Korean village close by the border. No people live in this village. They've built it just for propaganda reasons. In the middle of the village stands this tallest flag pole on this planet. And the North Korean soldiers play music 24 hours seven days a week. I heard this music everywhere during our trip.



It was an amazing time in Korea. The German team's success gave us a great feeling. We experienced two weeks of fun and awesome atmosphere in the group. Even if the Korean culture is difficult, it was very interesting to take a look into this part of the world. I'm pretty happy that I had the chance to experience these weeks.



The author Moritz Belmann is a member of the EUSA Student as well as Media & Communication Commissions; studied media development at the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt and sport journalism and sport marketing at the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida.

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