Sarkozy, IOC Head to Annecy for 2018 Olympic Bid Inspection

The president of France as well as the prime minister will be on hand in Annecy when an IOC team of experts make their first stop to inspect the three cities vying for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The 11-member IOC Evaluation Commission arrives Tuesday in Annecy for their five day visit in the French Alps city. IOC member Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden chairs the commission, the first time a woman has led a panel for the Winter Games.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon will welcome the IOC commission when they reach Annecy today. French President Nicolas Sarkozy will come on Friday, assuming no international crisis rises to prevent his travel, Around the Rings is told.

After the visit in Annecy, the IOC panel will head to PyeongChang, South Korea next week. After a break, the commission wraps up with a visit to Munich the first week of March.

Annecy’s Challenge

The Annecy bid may face the toughest test of the three bid cities with a new team in placeCEO Edgar Grospiron resigned in December whenpublic authorities balked at adding to the bid budget.

New CEO Charles Beigbeder, a businessman, was named in early January and has the task of appearing in command of a bid he knew little about until he was recruited for the post a few weeks ago.

He tells Around the Rings that he travelled to Lausanne last week to introduce himself to IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli and bid cities director Jacqueline Barrett. He says a meeting with the IOC visit will come later.

As part of his preparation he’s made the circuit of venues in Annecy and nearby Chamonix that his team will show the IOC this week, although he is familiar with the Haute-Savoie as the owner of a mountain chalet.

"We have an excellent file, and since June we have optimized the file," he says, referring to the changes made at the behest of the IOC. In reviewing the initial applications of Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang, an IOC panel of technical experts found fault with the spread of venues and other aspects of the bid. The IOC gave the bid an unusual second-chance, allowing Annecy organizers to make revisions to stay in the race.

The new bid plan concentrates venues around Annecy and Chamonix, about an hour east, the home of the first Winter Olympics.

"Things are progressing in the right direction. I think we can be proud," says Beigbeder.

Comparedto recent past Olympics held in this region (Grenoble 1968, Albertville 1992) he says that Annecy would offer a better plan for the Games.

"It’s more compact than Albertville, plus we have most of the infrastructure in place. No white elephants will be built. The TGV is already in place. Investments will be optimized, directed to the Olympic Villages, media center, venues," says Beigbeder.

New Team Makes Final Preparations

Since taking over, Beigbeder has assembled a new team to run the bid and prepare for the crucial visit of the IOC commission.

Pierre Mirabaud is director general, a veteran of regional government assignments. Communications director Caroline Duboc was hired last month after key members of the media team were replaced. She has been involvedwith the Olympics as a broadcaster.

Beigbeder says he is backed with the expertise of vice presidents Jean-Pierre Vidal and Pernilla Wiberg, both winter Olympic medalists, who have been working on the bid since it began.

Gone is Laurent Scharapan, a French Olympic marketing expert who had help guide the Annecy bid neophytes through the early stage of their campaign. But his savoire-faire should be matched with the extensive bid experience of British expert Andrew Craig, who worked on successful bids in Vancouver, London and Sochi.

The role played by French IOC members Jean Claude Killy and Guy Drut will be of interest this week. Both have been on the sidelines of the Annecy campaign, both of them expressing doubts about the bid to French media – as well as issuing lukewarm endorsements.

But Drut and Killy, one of the IOC’s leading figures on the Winter Games, are both to be in Annecy this week to meet with the IOC inspection team. Maurice Herzog, ex-French IOC member, now honorary member, will also be in Annecy.

"They are completely supporting Annecy," says Beigbeder, discounting commentsKilly and Druthave made in the past that appeared to downplay Annecy’s chances against Munich and PyeongChang.

Written and reported in Annecy by Ed Hula

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