DURBAN, South Africa -- The victory margin was massive and the message loud and clear: Persistence paid off for South Korea in its third consecutive bid for the Winter Olympics. Fernando Torres Jersey . After two stinging defeats in a decade of trying, the South Korean city of Pyeongchang finally won its Olympic prize Wednesday, burying two European rivals in a landslide vote for the 2018 Winter Games and bringing them back to the lucrative Asian market. "We are grateful to people who persevere and are patient, and each time the bid has improved," International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said. The Koreans lost narrowly in the final round of voting for the 2010 and 2014 Games, but this time they defeated Munich and Annecy, France, by a one-sided margin that few had expected. "Koreans have been waiting for 10 years to host the Winter Games," bid leader Cho Yang-ho said. "Now we have finally achieved our dream. "I believe that all the IOC members understood our message. They understood it was right time, right place, right now." Needing 48 votes for victory, Pyeongchang won an overwhelming 63 of the 95 cast in the first round of the secret ballot. Munich received 25 and Annecy seven. "I was surprised by the one-round victory and I was surprised by the margin," Rogge told The Associated Press. "We had three technically equivalent bids and then the other factors came into play and definitely the patience and perseverance of the Koreans has been rewarded." South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who delivered a speech in English during the final presentation, reminded the IOC of his countrys successful hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and said: "Now Korea wants to give back to the Olympic movement and to the world." Pyeongchang will be the third city in Asia and first outside Japan to host the Winter Games. Japan held the games in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. Under the slogan "New Horizons," Pyeongchang drove home the theme that it deserved to win on a third try by offering the potential of spreading the Olympics to a lucrative new market and become a hub for winter sports in the region. "They have tried very hard and they have done everything that we told them to do and I think that a lot of people felt that they really deserved it," Norwegian IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg said. "And they will have a really good legacy for the whole of east Asia." Pyeongchang hit all the right notes in its final presentation, combining emotion and humour with its solid technical bid plans. "We never gave up, and tried again and listened to your advice and improved our plans," said Kim Jin-sun, the former governor of Gangwon Province, where Pyeongchang is located. "I believe it is my destiny to stand in front of you for the third time," he said, his voice choking and eyes welling with tears. "Our people have waited for over 10 years for the Winter Olympics. Today I humbly ask for your support for the chance of hosting the Winter Games for the first time in our country." The Korean victory followed the IOCs trend in recent votes, having taken the Winter Games to Russia (Sochi) for the first time in 2014 and giving South America its first Olympics with the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. "Its kind of like the Rio situation where its time," Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said. "Theyve been here twice already. ... Theyve done everything theyve been asked to do. If youre a worldwide organization, you have got to be able to show that by moving around the world." Waving Korean flags, Pyeongchang delegates in the conference hall erupted in cheers and chants after Rogge opened a sealed envelope and read the words they had longed to hear: "The International Olympic Committee has the honour of announcing that the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in 2018 are awarded to the city of Pyeongchang." President Lee turned to 20-year-old reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na, who was in tears. "I am lost for words about now," Kim said. "Im really excited. It will be very good to compete in my own country." In Pyeongchang, hundreds of people watching a giant TV screen at a ski jump venue roared with delight, dancing, hugging and shedding tears of joy. Despite South Koreas elation, worries about North Korea will likely linger over the Pyeongchang Games. The town of 47,000 people, 180 kilometres east of Seoul, is in Gangwon province, which shares a tense border with the communist country. North and South Korea technically remain in a state of war, with their 1950-53 conflict ending in a truce, not a peace treaty, and tensions have been high since Seoul said the North sank a South Korean warship last year, killing 46 sailors. Also last year, North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing four people, including two civilians. Still, both countries have co-operated before in the sports arena. In 2002, South Korea helped pay for North Korea to send cheerleaders to the Busan Asian Games. Athletes from the two Koreas also marched together in the opening ceremony at the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Pyeongchang has stressed during its bids that a Winter Olympics would encourage a mood of peace and even prod North Korea into reaching out to the world. It was the first time an Olympic bid race with more than two finalists was decided in the first round since 1995, when Salt Lake City defeated three others to win the 2002 Winter Games. The Utah capital, later embroiled in a bribery scandal related to the bid, won by 40 votes -- 54 to 14 each for Sion and Ostersund. Pyeongchangs win was the second biggest first-round margin in Olympic voting, according to IOC records. Like Salt Lake City, Innsbruck won by 40 votes (49-9) when it beat Calgary for the 1964 Winter Games. Had no majority been reached in the opening round Wednesday, the city with the fewest votes would have been eliminated and the two remaining cities gone to a second and final ballot. Pyeongchang was determined to win in the first round after its previous two defeats. The Koreans had led in each of the first rounds in the votes for the 2010 and 2014 Games but then lost in the final ballots to Vancouver and Sochi. The Canadian Olympic Committee extended its congratulations to Pyeongchang in a statement. "We wish the people of Pyeongchang good luck on this exciting journey hosting the Olympic Winter Games," said Jean R. Dupre, CEO and Secretary General of the COC. "It is an event that can change a country, as we have seen here in Canada. "The Canadian Olympic Team looks forward to competing against the worlds best in this wonderful setting." There were no sympathy votes for the underdogs in the first round this time. Annecys seven-vote total was the lowest since Quebec City got the same number in the first round of the 1995 ballot won by Salt Lake City. "I think everyone said, Im not going to play the usual IOC game," Pound said. "Ill give you first-round support. If I really support X, Im going to go right there." Still, he was surprised by the scale of the victory. "I suspect that nobody thought that it was 63-25," he said. "Its not 2 1/2 times as good as Munich." In its presentation, Pyeongchang displayed a world map showing where the 21 Winter Olympics have been held -- 19 in traditional markets in Europe and North America and only two in Asia. It was a page out of Rios effective strategy, which used a world map to highlight that the Summer Olympics had never been in South America. Munich, which hosted the 1972 Olympics and was seeking to become the first city to host both Summer and Winter Games, had tried to cut into Pyeongchangs geographical and sentimental pull. The Germans argued it was time to take the Winter Games back to their roots in Europe, noting that the country hadnt hosted a Winter Olympics since Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936. Munich delegates had spoken confidently of gaining momentum in recent weeks, but within minutes of Wednesdays result, bid chair and former two-time Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt was leaving the scene in tears. A sense of bitterness was expressed by IOC Vice-President Thomas Bach, a senior figure in Munichs bid. He suggested the Koreans had sought excessive sympathy from their previous failures. "I think that was obvious in the Pyeongchang presentation," he said. "They were playing on this sympathy and compassion minute after minute. Rio was different. Rio did not play on previous defeats or sympathy or even compassion." Fabio Coentrao Real Madrid Jersey . Louis Rams had some fun during the coin toss of Sunday’s game at the expense of the Washington Redskins. Viktor Claesson Jersey . Louis Blues, having added Ryan Miller and Steve Ott from Buffalo, remain the No.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The New Orleans Saints will have to wait another week for a chance to clinch a playoff spot. It will be their last chance. The Saints needed a win over the Panthers to wrap up the NFC South and a first-round bye. Or, at the very least, an Arizona loss to clinch a playoff spot. They got neither. Instead, the Saints headed back to the Big Easy knowing they will need to beat Tampa Bay next week to qualify for the post-season following a 17-13 loss at Carolina on Sunday. They can also qualify if Arizona loses or San Francisco loses twice. "Right now just trying to take this, because its obviously tough with so much on the line for us personally," Saints tight end Jimmy Graham said. "... Obviously we have to play better and we just have to finish. When you are up like that you want to win those tight ones. When you want to get into the playoffs you cant lose those." Drew Brees called the loss "painful," but said the key is to take from the positives. "Its all out there in front of us," Brees said. "Obviously, we need some help in order to win the division and be the two seed, but the fact of the matter is all we can worry about is what is ahead of us." Carolina (11-4) can wrap up the NFC South and a first-round bye in the playoffs with a win next Sunday at Atlanta. The Saints would win the division if they beat the Buccaneers and Carolina loses to the Falcons. The manner in which the Saints lost was particularly tough. Cam Newton, who had struggled all afternoon, threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Domenik Hixon with 23 seconds left to get the Panthers their first playoff berth since 2008 before more than 70,000 rain-drenched fans. Newton had been limited to 116 yards passing in the games 59 minutes. But the defence, dominant all day, gave him one last chance to win by forcing the Saints to go three-and-out. Newton took over at the Carolina 35 trailing 13-10 with 55 seconds left, no timeouts, a sore ankle and his best receiver, Steve Smith, on the sideline withh a knee injury. Mario Mandzukic Jersey. He dug in and completed a 37-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr. to quickly get the Panthers in field goal range. Then he connected with Greg Olsen for 14 yard. After Newton spiked the ball, Hixon made a diving catch in the left side of the end zone, cradling the ball in his chest after beating cornerback Corey White. The catch set off a huge celebration that left the stadium shaking. "I was 99 per cent sure it was a catch," Hixon said with a grin. The seldom-used Hixon came into the game with just three catches for 21 yards on the season. "Cam was very resilient," coach Ron Rivera said. "He struggled all day and he knows that. But he came through when we needed him." Carolinas defence kept the team in the game while the offence struggled, intercepting Brees twice and sacking him six times to avenge a 31-13 loss two weeks ago. Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly had 24 tackles — tying an NFL record, according to STATS — and an interception while building his case for Defensive Player of the Year, and Greg Hardy had three sacks going up against rookie left tackle Terron Armstead. "Theyre a good pass-rushing team," Brees said. "They did a good job of applying the pressure at times. They did a good job of covering some things downfield when we were trying to push the ball downfield. Maybe the result of that ended up being having to hold the ball a little bit longer and take sacks." New Orleans took the lead with 6:37 left after Brees drove his team 97 yards in 11 plays, connecting on a 5-yard pass to Graham on a jump ball in the end zone. Graham caught three passes for 62 yards, including a 46-yard reception, on the series. NOTES: Smith injured a knee ligament and he will need an MRI on Monday. He injured the knee in the first quarter then tried to return in the second but couldnt run on it. ... The Saints lost safety Kenny Vaccaro for the game in the second quarter when he was carted off with a left lower leg injury. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ChinaWholesale Jerseys ' ' '
