Bach Says Munich 2018 Defeat "Not the End of Everything"

(ATR) IOC vice president Thomas Bach drops a hint to Around the Rings that Munich may bid again for the Winter Olympics following its 2018 bid failure.

"We came here into a competition to win, like athletes enter into a competition to win and therefore it's a disappointing result," he told ATR at the IOC Session in Durban.

South Korea's PyeongChang was chosen by IOC members to stage the 2018 Winter Games in a secret ballot Wednesday. PyeongChang won 63 votes, Munich 25 and Annecy just seven.

Bach gave some indication that the Bavarian city might try again. "In sport and as an athlete you learn that defeat is not the end of everything," he said.

But he insisted Munich's bid team needed plenty of time to regroup following the bidding defeat before making any plans for the future.

"It's too early to tell. We have to carefully study the result, the procedures and then after careful consideration we will come to a conclusion in due time. We are not under time pressure," he said.

Comments made by IOC president Jacques Rogge about PyeongChang's victory in the wake of two failed bids will doubtless provide some encouragement for Munich. He said the Korean city's "persistence and perseverance" and improvements to each bid had paid off.

Asked if he was surprised about the margin of victory for PyeongChang, Bach responded:"That does not play a role. In this competition it's about winning or losing - and we have obviously not won."

Coe Advice for Failed Bids

Sebastian Coe, head of London's Olympic organizing committee, admitted to reporters covering the IOC Session in Durban that he had not been following the 2018 bid race too closely due to his 2012 Games commitments.

But the double Olympic champion, who spearheaded London's successful bid pitch to the IOC at the Singapore session in 2005, offered a few insights of benefit to the defeated Annecy and Munich bid teams.

"I think there is a broader message for teams that don't nick across the line and that is that if you want to maintain an interest in staging Games, you want to maintain a profile in the Olympic Movement, then learn from the experience, come back if you are really serious and make your bid even better next time," he said.

He cited Rio de Janeiro as a good example.

"Rio actually didn't make it through the evaluation process in 2004 but by 2009 they were a host city," he said.

He added: "PyeongChang didn't go away and disappear they came back and presented on another two occasions."

Written and reported in Durbanby Mark Bisson