Gold Medalist Leads French Olympic Bid
Annecy’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be headed by Edgar Grospiron, an Olympic gold medalist at the Albertville Olympics.
The announcement was made at a press conference in the French Alpine town Friday where the new bid set-up was revealed.
Christian Monteil, president of the Departmental Council of Haute-Savoie and deputy president of Annecy 2018, set out the new organizational plan that aims to prepare the groundwork for global promotional activities due to get under way in July.
The Annecy bid now includes a monitoring committee, which brings together representatives from the bid’s institutional partners; the City of Annecy, the Departmental Council of Haute-Savoie, the Rhône-Alpes region, the state, and the French National Olympic Committee led by its president Denis Masseglia.
Grospiron spearheads a separate, operational management team that is made up of the group of individuals directly involved in the task of moving the bid forward.
The Olympians and elite athletes unveiled as ambassadors Friday includes Jean-Pierre Vidal, Florence Masnada, Gwendal Peizerat, Perrine Pelen, Philippe Bozon, Bernard Demeyrier and Aime Jacquet.
Annecy officials said the bid was founded on four key principles: enhancing performance by ensuring the comfort of all athletes; a broad-ranging and innovative program of sustainable development for the local region; a strong heritage founded on youth and the Olympic family; making a contribution to the global profile of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
France’s 2018 candidacy boasts the support of the ski resort of Morzine and offers skiing in three major ski areas nearby, including the slopes of Mont Blanc.
“With nearly 65 per cent of sporting infrastructures already in place, Annecy 2018 can guarantee an authentic, environmentally friendly Olympic experience at a reduced cost,” said a bid statement released Friday.
Bid officials will participate in the IOC Observer Program at the Vancouver Olympics. Around the Rings understands that the applicant file of Annecy's bid is ready for printing and will be handed to the IOC on March 12.
Munich and Pyeongchang are the other bidders in the race for 2018, which concludes with the IOC decision on the host city in July 2011.
New Ambassadors for Munich 2018
Munich have unveiled some of the 70 sports ambassadors who are throwing their weight behind the bid campaign in the coming 18 months.
Alexander Resch, an Olympic champion at the 2002 Games, is one of the high-profile athletes.
“Because we are such a sport-loving nation, Germany would be a really fantastic host for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. I get goose bumps just imagining what the atmosphere would be like during the Games,” he said.
Other top athletes to join the bid effort include Heike Drechsler (track and field), Miriam Vogt (alpine skiing), Stefan Gaisreiter (bobsleigh), Silke Otto (luge), Susi Erdmann (luge and bobsleigh), Sandra Farmand (snowboard), Markus Eberl (ice hockey), Christa Kinshofer (alpine skiing) and Christoph Stark (freestyle-skiing).
The group of prominent advocates supporting the bid also includes gold medal winners from the Munich 1972 Summer Games including high jumper Ulrike Nasse-Meyfarth and javelin thrower Klaus Wolfermann.
Munich 2018 CEO Willy Bogner said: “We are delighted about all of these additions to the Munich 2018 bid team. These German sports stars will enable us to spread our unique and friendly athlete concept throughout the world.”
PyeongChang Extends Dream Program
Government leaders in PyeongChang are said to have decided to continue the Dream Program in 2011.
The 2010 edition is underway thisweek with 114 youngsters from 29 nations where winter sports are non-existent. The young athletes will receive lessons in skiing and ice skating.
Started in 2004 after the first PyeongChang Winter Olympic bid, the Dream Program has helped expand South Korea’s reach into the grassroots of winter sport.
Poznan Advances 2014 Youth Olympic Village Plan
The Mayor of Poznan, the Polish city bidding for the 2014 Youth Olympics, this week ratified an agreement with the University of Poznan to start development of a residential project that will become the Youth Olympic Village, if Poznan is awarded the Games next month.
Ryszard Grobelny said the agreement would ensure the design and construction phase of the development of three and four stories high buildings was right on schedule. When completed, it will provide a total of 2,700 modern rooms with more than 5,000 beds. Post-Games, it will become student housting.
Officials of the Poznan bid, who are competing with Nanjing, China to stage the 2014 Summer YOG, say the modern development will create a compact Olympic Village. The design includes a 2,500-seat restaurant, shops, recreation facilities and a media center with more than 500 terminals available to the athletes.
Italian Cities Continue Battle for 2020 Candidacy
Rome and Venice are busy promoting their bids to become Italy’s candidate city for the 2020 Olympics.
While Rome unveiled a logo this week, Venice staged a presentation in one its city squares. The public display of Venice’s 2020 plans reportedly included speeches from several Olympic champions and attracted a few hundred people.
The Italian Olympic Committee is scheduled to select its candidate city for the 2020 Games in April.
Written by Mark Bisson.
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