The 24th Summer Olympic Games were successfully concluded after a 16-day run in Seoul, from September 17 to October 2, 1988, under the theme: Peace, Harmony and Progress.
In what was the largest-ever Olympiad up to that time, more than 13,000 athletes and officials from 160 countries gathered to promote the lofty ideals of harmony and peace, while transcending the barriers separating East and West, and North and South.
The first boycott-free Olympics in 12 years, the Seoul Olympic Games rose above ideological division and national interest and returned the Olympic movement back to its founding ideals.
The success of the Seoul Olympic Games was the result of the all-out effort the Korean people put forth to achieve harmony and peace for the entire human race, the undaunted spirit of the International Olympic Committee to revive the Olympics as a festival for all mankind, and the aspiration for peace shared by nations around the globe.
Partly as a result of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Korea now has many world-class sports facilities, concentrated in Seoul and Busan where most of the Olympic events were held. The Seoul Sports Complex, which encompasses a land area of 545,000 square meters, includes the Olympic Stadium with a seating capacity of 100,000, two gymnasiums for basketball and boxing, an indoor swimming pool, a baseball stadium and a warm-up field.
Olympic Park, occupying a vast area of some 1.5 million square meters in southeastern Seoul, comprises a 6,000-seat velodrome, three gymnasiums, fencing and weightlifting venues, indoor swimming pools, and tennis courts.
A key training facility for the country's athletes is the Taereung Athletes' Village, located on the eastern outskirts of Seoul. Built on a 17.1 acre site in the midst of a beautifully wooded area, the village includes a skating rink, indoor swimming pool, shooting range and gymnasiums for wrestling, boxing and weightlifting.
