Alpine worlds' importance for Munich 2018 bid played down

Feb 7, 2011, 13:23 GMT

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - Munich's bid for the 2018 Olympics looms largely over the alpine world championships but ski officials insist that getting the Games is not a top priority for them right now.

'The world championships are a good visiting card if they are run perfectly, but not a crucial issue,' said Gian Franco Kasper, president of the ruling ski body FIS and a member of the International Olympic Committee, on Monday.

'Only a few members of the old man's club (the IOC) will visit (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).'

Kasper named the 'old man's club' reference, also used recently by football supremo Joseph Blatter in comments he later apologized for, 'quite rude' but 'reality.'

The IOC elects the 2018 Winter Games host city on July 6 in Durban, South Africa. Munich is competing against Pyeongchang (South Korea) and Annecy (France), with Garmisch set to stage the alpine and Nordic skiing events.

IOC members are prohibited to visit bidding cities apart from an official evaluation commission in the wake of the Salt Lake City 2002 bribes-for-votes scandal. Kasper can also be in Garmisch for the ski worlds in his capacity as FIS president.

German officials have also playing down the Olympic aspect.

'You can not reduce the world championships to being a stepping stone for the Olympic bid ... A visiting card for the Olympics is a side effect,' said German ski supremo Alfons Hoermann.

'We want perfect championships and want to show that Germans can organize a top sport event. But (we are aware) that the sports family is watching and that expectations are rising because of the IOC vote.'

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