Bidding for the Games: 2018 Cities to Lausanne, Snow in Barcelona

Cities Ready to Beat 2018 Questionaire Deadline

The three cities in the race for the 2018 Winter Olympics say they are ready to meet the March 15 deadline to submit their initial dossiers, known as the applicant file, to the IOC.

The files lay out the initial plans from Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang for hosting the Games. The documents will be studied by a panel of IOC technical experts in the weeks ahead for an assessment of the risks in each of the major categories, such as accommodation, transport or weather.

In June, the IOC Executive Board will review the findings of the experts to decide if any of the cities should be cut from the final 12 months of the contest. The IOC will select a 2018 host July 6, 2011 at the session in Durban, South Africa.

Annecy Delegation Travels to Lausanne

Annecy 2018 CEO Edgar Grospiron will travel to Lausanne on Friday to personally deliver the city's applicant file to the IOC.

Grospiron, the first moguls Olympic champion in 1992, will be accompanied by several bid committee members and ambassadors.

Annecy 2018 spokeswoman Alexandra Carraz told Around the Rings that the bid committee will hold a press conference in the coming days to present its Olympic bid concept. It will also reveal the "good" results of a national poll carried out in February that "underlines the strong support of the French population for the bid".

The French Alpine town will launch its "2018 Club", a fundraising initiative for the bid, at the beginning of April.

Hundreds of regional and national companies have been invited to attend. Former French international footballer Zinédine Zidane and Aimé Jacquet, manager of the French side which won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, are also scheduled to show their support for Annecy 2018 at the event.

Annecy is pitching itself as an attractive alternative to its rivals, Pyeongchang and Munich, boasting the support of the ski resort of Morzine and a bid that features skiing in three major ski areas nearby, including the slopes of Mont Blanc.

Munich CEO Hands Over Bid Book

Willy Bogner, CEO of Munich 2018, will make the trip to IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Monday to hand over the city's mini bid book.

"We will not have any more delegation members and activities in Lausanne," a Munich 2018 spokeswoman told ATR.

Ahead of Bogner's trip, and in contrast to Pyeongchang, there will be no special event held to sign off the completionof the German bid's applicant file.

"As the IOC told not to make a big event out of the submission of the mini bid book file, Munich will not have anything like a signing ceremony," she added.

Munich is vying to become the first city to host a Summer and Winter Olympics after staging the 1972 Games. Under the German bid plans, ice events would be held in Munich with snow events taking place 90 minutes away in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, site of the 1936 Winter Olympics.

PyeongChang Book Complete

The co-chairs of the PyeongChang 2018 bid held a signing ceremony to mark the completion of the dossier, which will be delivered to IOC headquarters by an official delegation.

“We are proud to submit our Applicant File to the IOC and highlight PyeongChang’s vision to help expand winter sports internationally, and connect the Olympic Movement with millionsof new, young hearts and minds across the Asian region, said co-chair Yang-Ho Cho, a businessman who heads the Hanjin Group, parent of Korean Airlines.

Governor Kim, who has been a driving force behind the preceding two bids from PyeongChang says this latest bid incorporates improvements promised in those bids.

“We want to show that we have worked tirelessly to keep our promises to the IOC, and have advanced our technical bid plan with significant investment in infrastructure and venue improvements,” says Kim.

Located about two hours north of Seoul, PyeongChang offers a venue plan split between the mountains with snow and sliding events and ice events in the coastal city of Gangneung, about 30 minutes from PyeongChang.

Mayor: Barcelona Snow Bodes Well for Winter Bid

Let it be known that Barcelona is serious in its quest to host a future Winter Olympic Games. This week the city received two dustings of snow.

For Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu the snow was an irresistible way to mention the city’s interest in the bid during a speech Monday to the Global Sports Forum in Barcelona. He told the audience 500+ sports leaders that the snow showed that the Winter Games would be at home on the Mediterranean port.

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Written by Ed Hula and Mark Bisson