ICT experience pavilion draws visitors at Gwangju FINA World Championship

The 2019 FINA World Championship are in full swing in Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju... with thousands of athletes taking part... and even more fans glued to the action from the sidelines.When there's a lull in the action in the pool,... visitors can check out an ICT experience pavilion that's been set up near the main venue.Lee Min-sun files this report in Gwangju .You can now enjoy deep-water scuba diving on dry land... without getting yourself wet.At the ICT experience pavilion located in Nambu University, the main venue of the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, visitors can swim through deep water... in virtual reality."This pavilion is filled with cutting-edge 5G and virtual reality technology which gives visitors an all-round experience from swimming to a tour of local attractions."Visitors can start off by standing in front of a self check-up machine that analyzes their health conditions and makes personalized exercise recommendations.Not many people get to jump off a dive board 75-meters high if you are not a professional diver.But in virtual reality, visitors can take a crack at high-diving that feels real but is completely safe."I came to see the 3-meter and 10-meter diving competition. I just tried the 75-meter dive in virtual reality and it felt so real, especially as I had just watched the real thing. When I stood at the end of the board, it was so scary and I didn't want to jump off."Children can take swimming lessons and practice their strokes as well.Visitors can also try out other aquatic sports such as artistic swimming and water polo by simply following the on-screen instructions."We here in Korea to support our daughter who's in the artistic swimming. Today we came in and we've done the underwater craft that was really good. And we tried the high diving. And that was fantastic. We've tried the synchronized swimming because we thought we'd better try it for our daughter. That's all. It's all really good."For those who are interested in local tourist attractions, they can go on a virtual reality zip line through Gwangju's landmark Mudeungsan Mountain.Visitors can also get their hands on the latest 5G-enabled services like autonomous driving and images taken from an airship hovering over the main venues.Since the opening on July 12th, the ICT experience pavilion has drawn some one-thousand visitors per day and will remain open until August 18th.Lee Min-sun Arirang News Gwangju.