Edgar Grospiron, Olympic Champion and CEO of Annecy 2018, told a press conference Monday at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games “for us the Olympics and Paralympics are first great moment of emotion. We want to provide athletes and the public with memorable Games in authentic sites in the mountains and close to each other to meet athletes from all disciplines”.
Grospiron is a freestyle ski champion in Moguls and later worked in human resource mnagement.
Also attending the press conference were Jean-Luc Rigaut, Mayor of Annecy, Denis Masseglia, President of the French Olympic Committee, and Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Health, Youth and Sport.
Grospiron added, “we have exceptional, spectacular scenery with Mount Blanc, economic strength with one million tourists every year, and so we believe that our bid is credible. We want to invite the world to a party in a world famous resort”.
Jean-Luc Rigaut talked about the exceptional setting of Annecy and the territory proposed to host the Games, as well as the concentration of competitive races in two venues – Annecy and Mont Blanc”.
There was also a guarantee of snow in Pays de Savoie where the average snowfall in February is 80 cm – an obvious reference to the poor snow conditions that have plagued some venues at the Vancouver 2010 Games.
Bid organizers say the Savoy Mont-Blanc region is “the world’s leading winter sports destination” where 65% percent of the required Olympic venues have already been built and more than 1 million beds are available in all categories.
Annecy 2018 will use the observer program in Vancouver as an opportunity to further enhance its bid book that is due into the IOC in March. A celebration for France’s Olympic medal winners will take place in Annecy and Haute-Savoie on March 2.
