The bid committees of PyeongChang, Munich of Germany and France’s Annecy now have less than 24 hours before the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games is announced.
As with any vote it’s dangerous to predict a winner, but Annecy stumbled during the race over its preparations, as pointed out by the IOC. It also struggled to secure funds and saw its leadership change to Charles Beigbeder.
While Annecy tried to get back on track, the other cities, pushed forward aggressively, to the point it may well be a two-horse race when IOC members push the electric voting button in Durban, South Africa. While he doesn’t vote himself, IOC President Jacques Rogge is expected to announce the winner at around midnight (KST) on July 6.
In their bid Munich suffered from opposition to the Games from landowners in Garmisch-Partenkirchen while financial scandals involving the leading protagonists of the bidding team in Korea tainted the PyeongChang campaign. But none of these incidents are likely to be major setbacks when the IOC members make their decision.
PyeongChang and Munich have employed different concepts and proposed different legacies. Some have dubbed their contest as one between the old and the new.
PyeongChang’s slogan and concept has been “New Horizons,” aimed at opening up new opportunities for Asian countries that are less developed in winter sports.
So far the Winter Games has only been held in Asia twice — both times in Japan with the last being the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Hosting another Winter Olympics in Asia would provide a boost to winter sports development in the region.
The circumstances are much better in Asia than with previous Olympic bids. There is a boom in winter sports as the Asian economy is growing in scale and scope and there are more Asian countries ready to invest in winter sports.
The ensuing results if PyeongChang wins the 2018 Winter Games could also be positive. If the Korean town succeeds in its bid,a bobsleigh venue will be opened there to provide an opportunity to bring a bobsleigh World Cup series to Asia.
The IOC members may also take into consideration PyeongChang’s continued “Dream Program.”
This project aims to help young athletes whose countries lack sufficient infrastructure or money to spend on winter sports. The committee so far has helped 947 youngsters from 47 countries get a taste for winter sports, of which 12 have gone on to compete in the Winter Games.
On Sunday, South African figure skater Tamarah Jacobs, who first discovered winter sports through the Dream Program in 2005, headed to Durban to meet reigning Olympic champion Kim Yu-na.
Hosting the Games is also seen as a goldmine for PyeongChang. Among many of the legacies of PyeongChang’s bid is to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, where the two Koreas remain divided following the Korean War.
Munich has been promoting itself through the platform of “Festival of Friendship.”
The European winter sports powerhouse has said that it will create a festival in the German city.
The Munich bid committee emphasized that there are many things to enjoy during the Olympic season other than the Games. The committee also tried to highlight that Munich already has existing infrastructure. In addition, it is aiming to become the first city to host both the Winter and Summer Games.
The bid committee said that it will prepare many opportunities for various cultural and sporting events for young athletes.
They might want give the Olympics a similar feel to the Oktoberfest, a world-famous beer festival with over six million participants since 1810.
The Munich bid committee, however, has emphasized the slogan “Back to the Roots,” in Durban.
That new slogan stands contrary to PyeongChang’s idea.
Long-time Olympic watchers note that cities that have shown strengths in their bids did not necessarily become the eventual victor.
Both frontrunners, PyeongChang and Munich, have obvious strong points that are good enough to make up for any perceived weaknesses.
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