POSTED: June 12th 2011

NewsUpdate

World leaders lobbying for 2018 winter Games

Brazilian president Lula showed the world just how much Rio 2016 meant to him when they won in Copenhagen / Image: IOC

LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications

TAMPA, Jun 12: With just 24 days left until the final vote we are waiting to see who will be the world leaders traveling to Durban to help convince IOC members for their support for the 2018 winter Olympics.

There are three cities Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang that are vying for the chance to host these Games and to welcome the world so their complete government backing is key for each one.

During the last bidding cycle for the 2016 Games impassioned support from President Lula was especially evident when he broke down in tears at the official announcement press conference after Rio de Janeiro won the 2016 summer Games.  

When the vote came for the 2014 winter Games bid race happened in Guatemala City in 2007, then Russian president Vladimir Putin played a big role in landing the Sochi 2014 bid. In Singapore in 2005 as well former British prime minister Tony Blair flew in and aggressively lobbied for London 2012.  

The attendance of world leaders will also add to the security needs of the local Durban organizers and the IOC. Last time in 2009 when high profile US president Barak Obama decided to join First Lady Michelle in Copenhagen for the official presentation to support Chicago 2016 the local security was taken to a whole new level.

Munich

Munich 2018 has already announced that German president Christian Wulff will be traveling to South Africa to support the German bid. Chancellor Angela Merkel has not confirmed presence however she met with the IOC during the evaluation commission for the official dinner.

IOC vice-president, Thomas Bach said in a statement, “We are all delighted that President Wulff has confirmed he will be with us in Durban. It underlines the German administration's wholehearted commitment to Munich 2018 and to the Olympic Movement. “

PyeongChang

The South Korean president, Myung-bak Lee, is also very likely to attend to support this third bid effort on behalf of PyeongChang. President Lee was very active during the IOC evaluation commission visit even going out to meet with the attendees of the Dream Program to help them push bobsleds to rally spirit.

Lee met with the IOC for a reception and also emphasised Korea's strong cross-party political support and stated that the Korean central government, the Gangwon provincial government and the PyeongChang municipal government have pledged to honour all required IOC guarantees. This included the funding of infrastructure development costs and confirmation that 100% of the land for the proposed 2018 Winter Games venues had been secured.

Annecy

President Nicolas Sarkozy has yet to confirm his presence in Durban, however sports minister Chantal Jouanno expressed confidence that he would support the bid there.  

Sarkozy met with the IOC evaluation team in Annecy for lunch back in February and at that time expressed the French government’s backing for the French bid.

He also encouraged the bid team who had just endured a change of leadership as Charles Beigbeder took over the post that Edgar Grospiron left vacant. "You have a very good concept, an absolutely magnificent region and the ambition to bring these Olympic Games here. We'll make every effort to try to win."

Jouanno also read out a statement from him at the IOC technical briefing in Lausanne last month.

Emotional vote

The final vote for the 2018 winter Olympics and Paralympics takes place on July 6th at the IOC session. All three cities are capable of hosting the Games according to the IOC’s evaluation, this decision is largely regarded as an emotional vote rather than a technical one, so it really is a high stakes game of roulette.  Anything can happen.

Keywords · 2018 Games · Annecy 2018 · Munich 2018 · PyeongChang 2018 ·

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