[2019 Gwangju World Aquatics Championships Review] Securing Human Resources Including Sports Experts

At the 2019 Gwangju World Aquatics Championships, South Korean athletes are performing in the team combination preliminary round of Artistic Swimming.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] During the 2019 Gwangju World Swimming Championships, volunteers who acquired basic international protocol skills through pre-training played active roles in various on-site fields such as interpretation, transportation, and awards in 31 categories.

For the 3,126 volunteers gathered not only from Gwangju but also nationwide, it was a rare and valuable opportunity to fully demonstrate their talents and specialties through participation in an international event.

Going forward, it would be desirable to create and systematically manage a pool of volunteers who participated in the event and to expand volunteer activities by providing information related to international events held domestically and abroad.

A large number of professional sports personnel, including domestic referees, were secured.

The organizing committee required a considerable number of referees for smooth and flawless competition management.

Through a two-year collaboration with the Korea Swimming Federation, 366 domestic referees (69 for championships and 297 for masters) were trained and assigned to competition operations by event during the tournament period.

The personnel trained as domestic referees will be able to serve as key competition operation staff for future domestic swimming competitions.

Some employees who worked professionally at the organizing committee were employed by international sports organizations such as the FINA headquarters and domestic international competition organizing committees.

Additionally, some employees received government scholarships and enrolled in the master's degree program in sports at the overseas university (AISTS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lausanne is home to more than 30 international sports organizations, including FINA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Sports professionals equipped with the know-how and knowledge acquired through the Gwangju Swimming Championships are expected to become a strong human resource for international sporting events held in Korea in the future.