PYEONGCHANG (South Korea), July 4: South Korea's leading alpine resort was cautiously optimistic on Wednesday about its chances of winning the 2014 Winter Olympics, on the eve of what is tipped to be a tight vote for one of world sport's most coveted prizes.

“I believe we will win as we have been well prepared and better positioned than our rivals,” Pyeongchang county deputy mayor Kweon Sun-Cheol said.

The town of 49,000 people has bolstered its bid by garnering stronger public support since it narrowly lost the 2010 Winter Games to Vancouver, he said.

The International Olympic Committee chooses the host city at 8.00am on Thursday Korean time (2300 GMT on Wednesday) at a meeting in Guatemala City.

The other contenders are Salzburg in Austria and Sochi in Russia. With some officials predicting that four key votes will determine the outcome, all three countries have sent their presidents for intensive last-minute wooing of IOC members.

Kweon said the result would be beamed live on a large screen outside the four-storey county office building whose front is draped with a banner reading ‘Dream and future 2014 Pyeongchang!’

“More than 3,000 residents will gather here, waiting for the voting,” he said, adding a band and a dance group would perform.

The town is keyed up with Olympic hopes, its streets decorated with colourful banners and flags.

“Dreams come true. Run to the 2014 Olympics,” reads a large banner which greets visitors at the entrance of Pyeongchang 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of Seoul.

Residents believe hosting the event will bring tens of thousands of jobs to Gangwon province, one of South Korea's least developed areas, and promote peace with neighbouring North Korea which is backing the Olympic bid.

The heavily fortified Cold War border bisects Gangwon.

“That will lay the foundation stone of reunification,” said Lee Yoon-Bum, a 28-year-old engineer. “I firmly believe we will see a good result tomorrow as we have prepared well for eight years.”

President Roh Moo-Hyun has made Pyeongchang's bid a national priority, arguing the Winter Games would help ease tensions on the divided peninsula.

County officials say the town would become a winter sports destination for a potentially huge Asian market if it wins.

They say the games would create about 150,000 new jobs in the province and boost the local economy by billions of dollars.

“Its economic effect would be enormous,” Kweon said.

Pyeongchang is counting on the fervent desire of South Koreans to stage their nation's third top world sports event following the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted with Japan.

The IOC's latest poll showed that 91 percent of Pyeongchang's residents support the bid and that 83 percent nationwide are in favour.

Pyeongchang is touting what it describes as world-class facilities, easy traffic access and ecologically friendly accommodation for athletes.

It is also selling itself as a future Asian winter sports hub. South Korea would be only the second Asian nation after Japan to stage a Winter Olympics if the bid succeeds.

And the potential peace dividend on the peninsula, including a possible joint North-South Olympic team, is in keeping with Olympic ideals, organisers say.—AFP