I've been to five Olympic stadiums in my travels over the years (1972 Munich, 1976 Montreal, 1984 Sarajevo, 1992 Barcelona, 2008 Beijing), just missed out on visiting 1964 Tokyo, and will probably make it to 1988 Seoul soon. But I've never been to an actual Olympics event. Buying tickets for London 2012 will be near impossible and when you add in hotels/airfares the cost could be astronomical!

However, living in Daegu we are fortunate that this summer they will be hosting the International Association of Athletics Federation World Championships at the Daegu World Cup Stadium. This is a large Olympic style stadium built to host some of the Fifa World Cup Games when Korea hosted in 2002. This was an opportunity I wasnt going to miss right on my doorstep and is the closest I'll every get to an olympic style games.

Daegu is trying to assert itself on the world stage, muscled out by rivals Busan and Seoul, and attempting to boost its profile by hosting such a large scale international event. After the Summer Olympics and Fifa World Cup, this is the third largest sporting event in the world. The nine day event will welcome 3500 Athletes from 212 countries, and an equal number of officials and visiting media. There will be 24 track and field events for both men and women featuring the biggest names in world athletics. All over town are pictures of the mascot 'Sarbi' promoting the event.

Ticket prices start from 20,000w ($18), and surprisingly, there are plenty of seats available for the opening and closing ceremonies six months away. They had a 10% discount until Mar 31, 2011 for booking early. I wanted to book a pair of tickets for both the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Daegu Tourist Information Office told me there are four ways to book; Online, Daegu Bank, Daegu City Hall, in person at the event office downtown. I tried to book online but was having a problem with the credit card payment. This is also a problem I had on KoreanAir with pop up blockers and having to install additional software, so decided to take the bus downtown to their office.

They have a large office building with their mascot across several stories at the main intersection at Jungangno. The offices are over several floors, instructions in hangul, and I didnt see instructions for a ticket office. Nobody seemed to speak english, and seemed startled to see someone wanting tickets. I was first told to go to the 5th floor, but luckily someone there spoke good english and brought me to the marketing team on the 4th floor.

The opening ceremony Sat Aug 27, 2011 has assigned seating but I was able to get good seats in the centre of the oval on level 3 for 40,000w ($36). The following weekend, Sat Sept 3, 2011, has finals for eight track events, and I was able to get the same seats level three for only 20,000w ($18). I have the same seats again for the closing ceremonies Sun Sept 4, 2011, again 20,000w ($18) when there will also be six track finals on the same day. The section I bought for the closing weekend, seating is only assigned by block not seat number, so its first come first serve on the day.

The guy helping me told me there will be a one hour show for the opening ceremony, and a 45 min show for the closing. Also, the day before the opening, on Fri Aug 26, 2011, there will be a large free public performance at Duryu Park across town including dancers, drummers, flag show, and singers. He also gave me some promotional items, a colour event schedule for each day, a Daegu 2011 Bag, and a Daegu 2011 bandana. The packaging had interesting suggestings for all the different ways you can wear the bandana over your head.

Even though its six months away, I'm very excited about going to such a major international sporting event for the first time. Ticket sales will probably pickup by the summer but there are plenty of good seats available, at good prices, if you want to book early.

Their website is
http://www.daegu2011.org/do/front/main/ en

But marathon fans, you dont have to wait till August. Daegu is hosting the 2011 Daegu International Marathon next weekend, Sunday August 10, thru downtown. There is a 42km route and a 10km route. There will also be a second marathon downtown during the Daegu IAAF Championships in August, so marathon fans will get to see and compete in two Daegu marathons this year!

Here is the Daegu 2011 Marathon Website
http://marathon.daegusports.or.kr/

They are also promoting the fact that Daegu is a good central base to explore the region, such as Haeinsa, Gatbawi, and Donghwasa Temples, the nearby historical and cultural towns of Andong, Gyeongju, as well as the big coastal city Busan. They will be arranging tours to some of these places for visitors. This is also one of the reasons I chose to live in Daegu, have been blogging about these, and am enjoying my time here!