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2018 bid cities to make pitches to IOC members

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-17 17:50

Residents of Pyeongchang sing during an event in support of Pyeongchang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, at a ski jump stadium in Pyeongchang, about 180 km East of Seoul, May 14, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - With the global campaign in its final weeks, the three cities vying for the 2018 Winter Olympics get the chance Wednesday to make their case directly to the IOC voters.

Bid leaders from Pyeongchang, South Korea; Munich; and Annecy, France, will be hoping to pick up the same kind of boost that sent Rio de Janeiro to victory in the race for the 2016 Summer Games.

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More than 80 International Olympic Committee members are expected to attend the closed-door presentations and question-and-answer sessions at the Olympic Museum. On Thursday, the members can visit the bid cities' exhibition rooms at a Lausanne hotel.

The briefing comes less than two months before the IOC selects the 2018 host city by secret ballot at its session in Durban, South Africa, on July 6.

The Lausanne meeting will feature two figure skating greats - two-time gold medalist Katarina Witt, who chairs the Munich bid, and Kim Yu-na, the reigning Olympic champion who will be part of Pyeongchang's presentation.

It's the second time the IOC has arranged a special meeting with bid cities ahead of a vote, and the first for Winter Games candidates.

The presentations in 2009 proved to be pivotal in the 2016 race, with Rio gaining a groundswell of support that culminated in victory several months later over Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago.

The dynamics are different this time, with just three candidates in the race and many IOC members coming from countries without a winter sports tradition.

Pyeongchang, bidding for a third consecutive time after narrow defeats in the voting for the 2010 and 2014 Games, has been widely considered the front-runner as it seeks to bring the Winter Games to a new territory in Asia.

Munich, the 1972 Olympic host which is seeking to become the first city to stage both summer and winter games, has been seen as the main challenger, while Annecy appeared to be lagging behind. The French bid may have the most to gain from this week's meetings.

"It's a much closer race that people believed that it would be because the Annecy bid has improved dramatically to make it a contender," said British IOC member Craig Reedie.

"Munich offers the safety of a big city and enormous degree of support from the history of winter sport in that part of the world, and Pyeongchang are bidding for the third time and have delivered practically everything the IOC have asked them to do."