International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge told reporters at the end of two days of executive board meetings why all three 2018 bid cities – Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang – were given candidate city status, with restrictions on Annecy’s bid.
Rogge said, “we had a report by a panel of experts that guided us in the decision to go from applicant cities to candidate cities. The report was that the three cities were capable of organizing good Games.
“The report highlighted the fact that Munich and PyeongChang were presenting low risk and that Annecy had the potential to have good Games. This was if they concentrate more on different venues than those that were foreseen in the original plan”, said Rogge.
“We had the assurance that the potential was there, so we decided to continue with the candidature of Annecy albeit with the advice to change the format of the presentation”.
When questioned if Annecy was selected because there were only three cities bidding for the 2018 Games, Rogge said, “no, we were absolutely sure that according to the experts’ report, that Annecy had all the possibilities to stage the Games should they adapt the concept. They have the time to do that.
“In other occasions there were issues with other candidate cities that were successful. I am thinking of London in particular who won their bid. The original report highlighted the obsolete transportation issues.
“London could reassure the IOC in the subsequent long term that new investments would be made with support of the government – and ultimately London won”, he said.
