Bidding for the Games -- Yu Na Kim; Munich Vote; Annecy Improving

Figure Skater Prepares to Star for PyeongChang

PyeongChang bid leaders say that the role of figure skater Yu Na Kim for this month’s technical briefing for the IOC in Lausanne is still being determined.

A government minister told reporters that the Olympic champion is slated to be at the crucial two-day briefing, but whether she will be part of the six-member team briefing the IOC is still being determined.

Deputy minister for sport Sun Kyoo Park and bid communications director Theresa Rah met with a group of Olympics beat journalists Monday on the sidelines of the IOC World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Doha, Qatar.

Park says the team which will make the 45-minute closed-door briefing May 18 is still being determined.

"We are working to come up with a team that can most effectively convey our vision and message to the IOC," he said.

Witt Expects Vote in Favor of Munich Bid

Munich 2018 chair Katarina Witt says she expects that the 2018 Olympic bid will be the winner when the votes are counted May 8 in the referendum among voters in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

"We do have great support there," Witt tells Around the Rings at the World Conference on Sport and the Environment. She was part of a team from Germany in Doha that included IOC vice president and German NOC President Thomas Bach and staff from the bid and NOC.

"I think we will show the majority support the Winter Olympics in Garmisch," she says.

The Bavarian mountain village, host to the 1936 Winter Olympics, would be used for alpine ski events in 2018.

The referendum is actually two questions, one in favor of the Games, the second opposed.

The results are non-binding, but coming just two weeks before the IOC technical briefing, Witt says a win for the bid will be a plus for the Munich campaign.

"I feel confident just based on our experience through the winter with the alpine world championships, how many people were there, how many people supported it."

Beigbeder: Perceptions of Annecy Improving

Annecy 2018 leader Charles Beigbeder tells ATR the bid is committed to tackling environmental challenges in French winter resorts to set the benchmark for global best practices.

Speaking after returning from the IOC World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Doha, Beigbeder said: "We have to take advantage of the Games to accelerate the necessary transformation of the mountains and especially of the winter resorts."

He said municipal authorities had made "incredible" improvements in the past two decades to green their operations but more needed to be done.

Annecy is currently involved in a program with the European Commission to explore what best practices can be implemented in the mountain villages and towns that are included in its bid book as well other French resorts.

"If we are elected to organize the Games, this will be the catalyst to accelerate the delivery of these actions," he said.

As well as reducing the carbon footprint, he identified the management and recycling of water in France's winter resorts as an area for improvement.

"I think we are the only bid to be tackling the water issue. The winter resorts are consuming a lot of water," he said. "This has to be managed very carefully in order to avoid any detrimental effects for future generations."

Annecy 2018 has promised to build its Olympic villages using energy-efficient methods and pledges to use renewable resources to power the Games.

Beigbeder said he senses that the perception of Annecy's bid is improving, following his trip to Doha where his team lobbied around two dozen IOC members.

"I think we can win this race. I got some good signals from members of the IOC," he said.

Since his appointment in January, Beigbeder said he has now met with nearly 70 percent of the members - about 110 - who will cast their votes for the 2018 host city on July 6 in Durban.

Saying the reaction had been "very positive", he added: "We are getting a very warm welcome. We are considered very seriously.

"Now we understand it's going to be very difficult for them to choose."

Asked what he expected of next week's 2018 Evaluation Commission report on the three candidates, Beigbeder said: "Clearly there will be very good points and some weaknesses."

Annecy's weak points were likely to be in the areas of accommodation and transport, he noted.

"We will be very clear and very convincing in our answers [to the IOC] to show that there is no risk," Beigbeder added.

He told ATR that the May 18 to 19 bid cities briefing in Lausanne was vitally important for Annecy.

"That is where Rio [2016] made the difference. It is not just a technical briefing, it's much more than that," he said, adding that Annecy was setting up private meetings with IOC members during the whole week in the Olympic capital.

"We are very clear in our heads in what we want to say in Lausanne, why we want the games and why the IOC needs to give us the Games," he said.

Hungarian President Says No to Budapest Bid

Pal Schmitt, Hungarian president and chair of the IOC Sport and Environment Commission, tells Around the Rings his country won’t bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Speaking at the end of the commission’s conference in Doha, Qatar, Scmitt says Budapest is "not ready" to stage an Olympics.

He says there are already several good candidates for the 2020 Olympics.

"We are not ready. The traditions of sports in Hungary has deep roots. We organize nearly every world championship of the Olympic Movement. But to organize each of them in two weeks, Budapest is not ready."

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city and was rumored to bid for the Games.

Schmitt withheld making a prediction on future bids.

"[2024] it’s a bit far" he said.

Written and reported by Ed Hula, Mark Bisson and Ed Hula III