The Daegu 2011 LOC Celebrates Celebrates D-365 & the Ticket launching Ceremony

Hello everybody!

It's me, Sarbi! Being the mascot for the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 keeps me very busy. My duties take me to many places, events, and I get to meet alot of new people. In fact, just this past week I attended the Daegu 2011 D-365 Countdown Event and Ticket Launching Ceremony!

The festivities were amazing! I met my friends from the Daegu 2011 LOC in Downtown Daegu's Banwoldang Intersection, where we teamed up with Daegu City during the annual Colorful Daegu Festival.

Here is a recap of this weekend’s events!

Here is our custom made stage at Banwoldang Intersection. This place was packed with people!

I won't lie, I was a little bit nervous before the start of the ceremony because it started to rain. What kind of luck is that? I wasn't sure if people would show up to our event because of the weather; but to my surprise, we had an amazing turnout! We ended up lucking out as  the rain stopped before the end of the event!

National University Cheerleading Squad Opening Performance

The festivities began with a performance by the National University Cheerleading Squad. These talented young ladies definitely helped us get into the spirit of the event with their amazing choreography and motivating music.



We had so many attendees we had to close off the road!




Look at the turnout!



Despite the raind, and the fact that there were not enough chairs for everybody many people came out to celebrate with us! The excitement of Daegu's citizens for the IAAF World Championships is evident as they all stood, danced, and cheered throughout the event, showing their unrelenting support!

Mr. Bum Il Kim, Mayor of Daegu City and Co-President of the Daegu 2011 LOC delivers his opening remarks.

In celebration of this monumental event, the President of the IAAF, Mr. Lamine Diack, sent a congratulatory video message to Daegu, speaking highly of the LOC’s preparations and giving his best wishes for the successful ticket launch. Daegu's City Mayor and the Co-President of the Daegu 2011 LOC, Mr. Bum Il Kim, also gave a stirring speech in which he highlighted the goals and initiatives both set and achieved by the LOC in the pursuit of hosting a successful World Championships.

Many other dignataries, including IAAF Council Member Mr. Rocky Park were present to re-launch the Daegu 2011 Official Web-Site for the online ticket sales.

Many notable figures from the Daegu City Government and Korea’s Athletics Family were present for the launching of the online sales web-site. Together, the guests re-launched the official web-site with the pressing of the ceremonial button together. The atmosphere was very moving as the crowd chanted in unison, "Sprint Together for Tomorrow” as the the official web-site and ticket sales were officially launched.

As a suprise the LOC announced a very special E-bay auction that started at the low price of a $9.58 (Same time as Usain Bolts 100m World Record of 9.58s). This special package included Premium Event Seating, round-trip tickets for 2, and 4 star hotel accommodations for the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011.  

Hyung-Joo Lim is photographed with Hye-Nyoung Cho, Co-President of the Daegu LOC and Me!

Hyung-Joo Lim’s special performance of "Champions"

Daegu citizens pledge their love of athletics!

In a further show of citizens’ support, I was surprised to see members of the audience who represented their age groups come onto the stage, where they then signed a document promising that they, along with their peers, would do as much as could to support Daegu, the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011, and the sport of athletics as a whole.



Daegu's Boys & Girls Choir singing "Ready to Dream."