Annecy and Munich, former competitors of PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, congratulated PyeongChang for winning the 2018 Winter Olympic Games bid.
In a press release Annecy 2018 thanked “the French public for their support along with every single individual who has contributed to this campaign culminating in a presentation we were extremely proud of”.
Annecy said it staged the bid because “we wished to serve the Olympic movement and work in partnership with the IOC to benefit winter sports and Olympism world wide. Many lessons have been learnt during this process and it can only make French sport stronger.
“We will continue to promote the values of Olympism every day of the year and hope to find other opportunities for France to serve the Olympic movement.
Munich congratulated PyeongChang calling them good opponents and said, “we are sure they will stage an excellent Winter Games in 2018”.
Munich said in a press release, “commiserations, too, to Annecy and their team.
“Munich 2018 put together a strong bid and we are immensely proud of everyone involved. Of course we are disappointed because we came here to become the host of the 2018 Winter Games.
“But the IOC has decided to award this honour to another candidate and because we are a sporting team, we accept this decision. We always knew that this would be a very tough race alongside two strong competitors”.
Meanwhile Dmitry Chernyshenko, Sochi 2014 President and CEO, said of PyeongChang’s win, “on behalf of everyone at Sochi 2014, I want to give my warmest congratulations to PyeongChang 2018. Like Sochi 2014, they offer an exciting ‘New Horizon’ for the Olympic Movement. Together we will take the power of Olympism to new territories. PyeongChang will be an excellent host city and I look forward to working with them in the future”.
Chernyshenko offered Annecy and Munich “my most sincere commiserations” and said they both put together very strong bids.
