Annecy can win tight Olympic race, says bid chief
PARIS — The French alpine town of Annecy can win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in what has become an increasingly tight race, their bid president Charles Beigbeder…
PARIS — The French alpine town of Annecy can win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in what has become an increasingly tight race, their bid president Charles Beigbeder told AFP.The 47-year-old businessman - who took on his role in January after his predecessor Edgar Grospiron resigned in December - said the impression it was a two-horse race between Korean candidate Pyeongchang and German rivals Munich was false.Pyeongchang - who are bidding for a third successive time after finishing runners-up twice - were seen as the hot favourites but Munich, bidding to become the first candidate to have hosted a Summer and Winter Games, have steadily made up ground.However, Beigbeder insists that Annecy too have closed the gap, since the resignation of former Olympic champion Grospiron had plunged the bid into a mini crisis.The race will reach its climax in a vote by the 100-plus International Olympic Committee members in Durban on July 6."It is not a two-horse race, it is a three-horse race," Beigbeder told AFP by phone from Chamonix where he was celebrating Olympic Day, the anniversary of Baron Pierre de Coubertin's declaration on June 23, 1894, of the birth of the modern Olympics."I really have the impression, having spoken to IOC members and received their congratulations after a technical presentation we gave in Lausanne, that it is a three-horse race."It is very narrow, the race, and I believe if we are strong in Durban that we can win," Beigbeder said, adding that he believed that their bid encapsulated the ideals of the IOC."We strongly believe that the dossier corresponds to the Olympic movement of today," he said."The Winter Games must always have as its priority to inspire the young."What better thing for the younger generation than to have a Winter Games in the country of winter sports."Beigbeder, who said that the bid had also met perennial key IOC concerns in terms of the environment and their ability to finance the hosting of the Games, said he had not hesitated when he was offered his post de
last modification 2011-06-24 03:30:24
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