POSTED: March 23rd 2011
NewsUpdate
Winter Games trio all on-message for media in 2018 countdown
KEIR RADNEDGE in Seoul / Sports Features Communications
SEOUL, Mar 23: The media may not have a direct vote in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games bid race but the value of its influence was underlined by the presentations of the three bids to AIPS Congress in Seoul.
More than 200 representatives of the international sports journalists' association heard leaders of the Munich, Annecy and PyeongChang campaigns all promise top-class working facilities including, most important, free wifi internet access.
As AIPS president Gianni Merlo said, in summing up: "The journalists spread the message of the Olympic movement but the travel and accommodation involved means that we pay to do so. Having to meet additional charges for internet makes no sense."
The internet access issue is growing in importance, particularly after the free-access examples set by football governing bodies such as FIFA and UEFA at the finals of the last World Cup and European Championship.
Jochen Faerber, communications director for Munich's 2018 bid, told AIPS delegates that they would have the "best possible working conditions as well as the best possible Olympic and Paralympic experience." This should act an inspiration for journalists to produce their very best work.
The IBC and MPC would be at the Munich convention centre with journalists benefiting from free internet access and a 24-hour media shuttle service plus free public transport during the Games.
Faerber, supported by relevant filmsand graphics, explained the Munich concept of staging ice events in the city and snow events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, venue for the recent World Ski Championships. This added up to 90pc of all events with the remainder at the sliding centre at Konigssee, towards the Austrian border.
Household names
Next up was Annecy whose vice-president Jean-Pierre Vidal confirmed a strategy U-turn in offering free wifi access to the media. Originally Annecy had told the IOC evaluation commission that it proposed to charge journalists.
He said: "We are totally committed to providing free wifi access at every venue and at all media accommodation . . because you [journalists] make Olympic champions into household names."
Bid president Charles Beigbeder described Annecy as a "city which often surprises" and renowned as the gateway to Mont Blanc. Hence the promise of "authentic Games at the heart of the mountains - from the mountains, with the athletes and for the future."
The proposal was based on the two hubs of Annecy and Chamonix and getting around the sites "would be easy." The vision was guided and shaped by Olympism since Chamonix had hosted the first winter Games in 1924.
State of the art facilities
South Korea's own PyeongChang wrapped up the session. Bid president and ceo Yangho Cho wasted no time in addressing the media agenda by offering journalists "the maximum in convenience and comfort."
Communications director Theresa Rah followed up by stressing the provision of "state-of-the-art facilities and information management services including free wifi everywhere." A combined IBC/MPC would be within five minutes of the main media village in Alpensia.
Rah underlined the IOC's opportunity to develop winter sports in the Asian region where only one country - Japan - had hosted the winter Games previously. Gwangbae Kang described the compact nature of a bid whose Alpensia and coastal clusters were a halfhour drive apart.
PyeongChang, bidding for the third time, is considered the favourite to win IOC approval on July 6 in Durban. Next stop for all three bidders is the forthcoming Oceania Olympic committees' assembly in New Caledonia.
Keywords · 2018 Winter Olympics · Annecy · Munich · PyeongChang
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