Sunday, May 20th, 2012
The battle to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics looks to be a straight fight between South Korea and Germany, although there are now three cities left in the bidding.
The French bid, based around Annecy, has fallen behind in the running with the International Olympic Committee saying that it needs some major re-working, although they have succeeded in going forward to the next phase.
IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli told the world’s media that, “All three Applicant Cities deserved to move to the second phase of the bidding procedure.”
He then went on to deliver a blow to the French, by adding. “It has been made clear, however, that Annecy needed to review its project. We look forward to working with the three Candidate Cities and wish them good luck for the year of competition ahead.”
The race between Pyeongchang in South Korea and the German city of Munich is thought to be tight, with Munich looking to make Olympic history as the first city to stage the summer and winter games, with the ski-ing potentially staged at the classic Garmisch downhill.
The bidding cities now have another six month’s hard work in front of them before they submit their final, formal, bid document, with the deadline on 11th January 2011. After that comes the formal inspection by an Olympic evaluation committee, which is released in May.
Then on 6th June 2011 we’ll know the winners and losers, as the entire Olympic family meets to decide. Threeyears ago it was disappointment for the Koreans, as the Russians of Sochi were chosen ahead of them. Can it be third time lucky for the persistent people of Pyeongchang?