OpEd - Annecy Needed for 2018 Olympics

The resignation of CEO Edgar Grospiron has left the Annecy 2018 bid in a precarious position – perhaps tenuous enough for the French to consider withdrawing from the race.

But while morale may be low in the Haute Savoie, Annecy backers would do well to consider the shaky state of affairs with rivals Munich and PyeongChang before taking any rash moves.

Indeed, by the time the IOC votes July 6, Annecy could be the last bid standing in this three city race.

Munich, which in some ways may bethe technically superior bid, has had its own leadership issues – and budget questions, just as Annecy. In July, then-CEO Willy Bogner unsuccessfully sought millions more from the government for the bid. While Bogner said he would remain with the bid despite the funding fallout, he resigned in September for health reasons.

Munich chair Katarina Witt quickly stepped into the role of bid spokeswoman, but she leads a campaign that has lost support of the German Greens Party. And a public opinion poll released last week shows overall public support waning for Munich, although bid backers insist polling in Bavaria, where the Games would be held, indicate the opposite.

Munich already has had to deal with disgruntled landowners who chased the biathlon and cross country venue away from one village. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, more complaints from landowners nearly derailed plans for the city to host alpine events and a satellite Olympic Village. Supposedly, those concerns have been addressed.

It remains to be seen whether the truce with landowners will hold in the final months of the campaign – the most high profile phase of the bid. Whether the Greens take their objections to another level could be a factor in the trend public opinion takes for the 2018 bid.

Assuming the worst for Munich, the bid could reach the end of the campaign having to explain to the IOC how the Games would be welcomed despite public opinion polls indicating high opposition and slumping support.

Public opinion is not the issue for PyeongChang; it enjoys 90 percent approval according to polling.

The threat of war is the problem for PyeongChang, given the ratcheting of tensions in the past few weeks between North Korea and South Korea.

Yes, the state of war between North and South has officially existed since Korea was divided in 1953. Yes, the 1988 Olympics were held in Seoul with threats from the North to flood the South by openingdam floodgates. The 2002 World Cup, the Asian Games and 2011 IAAF Athletics World Championships were all awarded to South Korea with the knowledge that North and South are not at peace.

But tensions are on the rise again. The shelling last month of a South Korea island was the first barrage against a civilian target since 1953. This week begins with bellicose talk from the North that warns against cooperation between U.S., Japan and Korean military forces.

That cooperation "is nothing but treachery escalating the tension between the North and the South and bringing the dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over the Korean peninsula," says a Pyeongyang newspaper column.

While there is a general belief that nuclear warfare is not a strategic option for either side, conventional weaponry could stoke plenty of border tensions. And what if, as the July 6 IOC vote approaches, gunfire or other hostilities erupt? Would IOC members be comfortable voting for the PyeongChang bid against this backdrop of uncertainty, even with PyeongChang bid leaders pledging that the Winter Olympics will helplead to unification of North and South?

Imagine a Munich bid with an indifferent or hostile public and a PyeongChang bid overshadowed by military bluster.

Sure, Annecy has a problem with its leadership today --but a new chief is expected to be named soon. (Whether French IOC member and Winter Olympics expert Jean-Claude Killytakes a public role to campaign for the bid is another question.)

Annecy may never get the same level of funding for the international campaign as the German or Korean bids, but isn’t there a belief that bids cost too much anyway?

Time was lost when the IOC asked Annecy to revamp the bid to make it more compact. But now it's in better shape.

"No one should feel they are hopelessly behind seven months before the election. A lot can happen," Lars Haue Pedersenof TSE Consulting tells ATR.

Atmosphere? Annecy offers a setting for the Olympics steeped in winter sports, including the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, which would be a major venue cluster in 2018.

"It has the magic of a high-class city in a mountain region but I haven't see that in the bid. They call it 'Little Venice," says Pedersen, referring to the canals in the old town of Annecy.

The misfortunes of its rivals – coupled with the pluses that it offers, could make Annecy an improbable winner for 2018.

Stay tuned.

Written by Ed Hula.