Munich bid officials full of optimism ahead of 2018 vote

By Sven Busch Jun 30, 2011, 13:31 GMT

Berlin - Although Pyeongchang is considered the favourite to be awarded the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, Munich officials will travel to South Africa full of optimism.

On July 6 the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide in the South African coastal city of Durban which of the three bidding cities is given the go-ahead to welcome the world's best winter athletes.

'We will be flying to Durban with much optimism. Our messages have been heard and the resonance has been positive,' IOC Vice-President Thomas Bach said.

Munich, which - if given the Games - will co-host the event with Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is running close to South Korea's Pyeongchang, while the French town of Annecy is considered to have very few chances.

Athletes-friendly Games, a safe and secure winter sport spectacle, a revolutionary environmental policy and an Olympic tradition are the core messages of the German bid.

Bach believes the long wait since the country last hosted the Winter Olympics (Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936) should persuade his IOC colleagues to vote for Munich.

The lengthy IOC Evaluation Commission report practically put Munich and the Pyeongchang bid on an equal footing, which has prompted the two-time Olympic skating champion Katarina Witt, who is fronting the Munich bid to say that they are a real alternative to Pyeongchang.

Bach agrees. 'We are going to Durban knowing that we can win. That we want to win we have already known for a long time. That we can win has become apparent in the last few weeks.'

After a slow start which saw demonstrators campaign against the bid, Munich's attempt has grown from strength to strength and even German State President Christian Wulff has thrown his weight behind the bid and will be travelling to South Africa.

The 45-year-old Witt believes that the IOC's decision goes much further than simply deciding where the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held.

Witt sees the IOC having to choose between continuing to pursue new markets or 'a return to the roots of winter sport'.

IOC honorary member Walther Troeger, who was the mayor of the Olympic village when Munich hosted the Summer Olympics in 1972, believes it will be a tight race.

'I am placing my bets on Munich, but believe it will be a very close result between Munich and Pyeongchang,' the 81-year-old told the German Press Agency dpa.

However, Troeger knows that quality is not the only criterion which the IOC members will use. 'It is our time again, but traditional winter sport countries like Germany currently face an uphill battle.

'When you see how winter sport federations look for new markets in Asia and the East, then you know that there are tendencies that are not particularly friendly towards the Alps.'