Asia holds its breath for 2018 Winter Olympic vote

DURBAN, South Africa — Asian sports fans held their breath on Wednesday awaiting the vote by the 90-plus International Olympic Committee (IOC) members on who will host the 2018 Winter Olympics.Their hopes of holding only the continent's third ever Winter Games -- the other two have been held in Japan the last in Nagano in 1998 -- rests with South Korea's Pyeongchang.They face opposition from Germany's Munich -- bidding to become the first venue to host both the Summer (1972) and Winter Games -- and the French alpine town of Annecy.The announcement of the winner is expected around 1500 GMT.Pyeongchang are trying at the third time of asking to win the right to host the Games, having finished runners-up on the last two occasions to Vancouver and the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has attached such importance to the bid that he has been in Durban since last Saturday, ostensibly he said for talks with South African counterpart Jacob Zuma but he has also held an official meeting with IOC president Jacques Rogge.In an interview on Monday Lee made it clear that the bid was not just a South Korean candidacy."I consider this as my duty and mission to deliver this for Asia," the 69-year-old said.For Germany's highly influential IOC member Thomas Bach the question he posed at the smooth presentation to the members was clear."It is not about how many times you have bid or how long ago one last hosted one," said Bach, who began his remarks in Spanish."It's a question of tomorrow, about the environment and about social responsibility."This bid is about the sport of tomorrow and the society of tomorrow."German paralympic legend Verena Bentele summed up her hopes in a moving phrase."I cannot see what you can see but being from Munich I would like to see the Olympics in 2018," said the 29-year-old 12-time Paralympic champion, who is blind.Annecy have been constantly written off in their attempt to become the first French hosts of the Winter Games since Albertville in 1992, but they h

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