All three cities suggested hosting the Games between 9–25 February 2018. The Paralympics will be held from 9–18 March.
Annecy At first, the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) was quite reluctant in bidding for a Winter Games, preferring to focus on a bid for the
2024 Summer Olympics. However, four cities (
Annecy,
Grenoble,
Nice and
Pelvoux) expressed interest in hosting the 2018 games. On 24 September 2008, the Olympic Committee announced it had granted these wishes and would bid in 2011. Annecy was elected as the official candidate city by the French NOC on 18 March 2009. The CNOSF acknowledged its tough competition, but intended to learn from the failure of Paris to secure the Summer Olympics recently with victory in Annecy, Previous bid head
Edgar Grospiron, Olympic skiing champion, stated, "we have exceptional, spectacular scenery with Mount Blanc, economic strength with one million tourists every year, and so we believe that our bid is credible. We want to invite the world to a party in a world famous resort". Grospiron was being assisted by IOC members and former Olympians
Jean-Claude Killy and
Guy Drut. On 10 January 2011,
Charles Beigbeder was named as the new CEO for the Annecy bid. In addition, Olympic champions
Jean-Pierre Vidal and
Pernilla Wiberg were appointed as Vice Presidents of the bid. Beigbeder said he would seek more financial support for the bid from the private sector. Also announced with Beigbeder's appointment was the selection of
Pierre Mirabaud as Director General of the bid. Mirabaud had been a regional government prefect, experience which Beigbeder said was needed by the bid. On 12 February 2011, the IOC evaluation commission completed its four-day inspection of the Annecy bid. During a brief press conference, commission chair
Gunilla Lindberg was cautious in her praise of Annecy. On a positive note, she told reporters: "We have during our visit witnessed very strong governmental support which the bid enjoys and this was highlighted by the presence of the President Sarkozy and many members of his cabinet throughout the visit. I think the bid committee of Annecy has listened to the comments made by the IOC [criticism of the spread-out venues in June] and there has been a big improvement, especially not having so many competition venues as was proposed." But there was no glowing assessment of the Annecy bid from Lindberg. The Swedish IOC member also gave no clue about any concerns that had arisen during the inspection team's four-day stay in the French Alpine town. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy also travelled to Annecy to meet with the IOC Evaluation Commission inspecting the city's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. "The government will do everything possible, you can be sure, so that Annecy, applicant for the 2018 Winter Olympics, will be chosen," Sarkozy said. "Annecy's victory will be the victory of the entire nation, standing behind you." While pledging his support for the bid he said "you are trying hard. It's difficult. Your opponents are extremely powerful but I'm with you. If we win the Games it will be fantastic. And if we don't win, all we did will be useful for your cities and your region". The territory that was proposed to host the Games is concentrated in Annecy and Mont Blanc where 65% of the venues were already built and "the world's leading winter sports destination". In a reference to difficult snow conditions at the
2010 Winter Olympics, organizers made a guarantee of snow in Pays de Savoie where the average snowfall in February is 80 cm. Annecy is a smaller city, so the whole department of
Haute-Savoie would have been used, including world-famous ski resorts like
Chamonix,
Megève,
La Clusaz,
Morzine and
Le Grand Bornand. Spread over an area with a 50 km radius, everything is within an hour of Annecy, and two Olympic villages were planned., However, in June 2010, the IOC criticized Annecy's bid stating that the competition venues were excessively dispersed. The IOC report was highly critical over the original venue plan, saying it would "present major operational and financial challenges" that would "affect the Games experience for all client groups, particularly athletes". On 4 October 2010 Annecy's leaders unveiled a new "ultra-compact" venue concept in response to the IOC concerns. Under the reworked venue plans, all ice and snow events would take place within a 21-mile radius at two main bases, Annecy and Chamonix, which are less than an hour apart and linked by motorway and the "Games Train". All alpine skiing would take place in Chamonix, which would also host ice hockey. All freestyle skiing and snowboard were centered on Annecy. Curling was relocated to Annecy, the hub of most ice sports, meaning that the Olympic Village would have been a little bigger than previously, to accommodate 2,500 athletes and officials. The revised bid moved the second Olympic Village (1,500 beds) from the Mont Blanc valley into the center of Chamonix. On 28 March 2011, the CAO (Annecy Anti-Olympic Committee) stated that it wanted to tell people about what "not only the excesses of the Olympics, the sport business, the financial stakes of multinationals and unacceptable demands of the IOC, but also on adverse impacts on the environment and on uncontrolled public spending with long-term debt for the Olympic city". The group said it had collected 13,140 names for its petition opposing plans to bring the Winter Olympics to Annecy. In a press release issued on the 28th, the opposition group cited information reported exclusively by media outlet
Around the Rings that an IOC poll showed only 51 percent of the local population supports the Annecy candidacy. Bid costs were US$21 million. Venue construction was set for $419 million and transport/infrastructure costs (including some already planned and some dependent on the Games) was $2.1 billion. Among the transport costs were a new high-capacity gondola connection between Flaine and Mont-Blanc, and a train link. The nearest airport service would have been in Lyon and Geneva (35 minutes by car). Annecy's logo featured the
French Alps, specifically
Mont Blanc, as well as suggesting the letter "A" for Annecy.
Munich Munich hosted the
1972 Summer Olympics, and if selected, it would have been the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games (the title later was claimed by
Beijing) and as well would be the first Olympics since
1936 Summer Olympics to have a single German nation following
reunification. Berlin and
Hamburg were considering a summer games bid for 2024 or 2028, but the German Olympic Committee put priority on the Munich bid. After Salzburg's failure to capture the 2014 bid, Germany felt it has a better chance and would have preferred the Olympics sooner rather than later. Munich's bid head was figure skating superstar
Katarina Witt, replacing skiing star/filmmaker/entrepreneur
Willy Bogner, Jr. who had to step down for health reasons. Munich stressed an environmental approach and would have used existing venues in Munich (some from the 1972 Games), and existing venues in the Bavarian mountain resorts of
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (location of the
1936 Winter Olympics) and
Schönau am Königssee, an hour away by car. Fifteen competition venues were proposed – eight exist, three would have required construction and four would have been temporary. To take environmental responsibility, new venue construction would be on existing sites in order to minimize land use. Ice events would have been held in Munich in addition to the existing Olympic Stadium for ceremonies. The Olympic swimming pool would have been adapted into a curling venue, figure skating and short track would have been at Olympic hall, a hockey arena would have been on the site of the old cycling stadium, and a second ice hockey arena and a speed skating oval would have been dismantled and used elsewhere after the Games. Garmisch-Partenkirchen Snow Park would have housed nine snow venues, Both locations would have had Olympic villages. In the district of Berchtesgadener Land, located in close proximity of the border to Salzburg, Austria, the historic Koenigssee Sliding Center was renovated for the World Championships in 2011 for hosting bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. The
Green Party and several ecological associations opposed the bid. Arguments included the lack of natural snow, the environmental costs of artificial snow, using
green land for temporary sites, road construction projects that would have caused a lasting increase of transit traffic, the financial risk, and the imposition of unnegotiable clauses by the IOC. As these points received increasing attention, public support for the bid diminished. While a 2009 poll gave 75.5% support of Munich residents and 68% across Germany, in spring 2010 these numbers were down to 69% and 64%, respectively. The bid proved highly divisive in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where more than 50 farmers refused to allow the use of their grounds. Before, similar refusal of farmers to cooperate had forced the planners to abandon
Oberammergau as site of the Nordic competitions. As a replacement, a state-owned stud near
Ohlstadt was chosen, which is located 200 meters lower than Oberammergau and more often than not is snow free in February. The then-German Olympic committee President
Thomas Bach said complaints by landowners in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were not a problem for the bid. "It's not a problem at all because for the field of play, it's one piece of land with 800 square meters. The piece of land was there for the alpine world championships six weeks before," said Bach. He added "we have seen this at the world championships they were all going down on this very slope and they will go down in 2018, hopefully." German chancellor
Angela Merkel said Munich had a "very good chance" of winning the race to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. She added, "The world can look forward to Germany hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2018." In addition to its historical strength as a winter sports nation, figure skating superstar
Katarina Witt promoted the bid, as well as
2010 Winter Olympics star alpine skier
Maria Riesch and Olympic champion Bavarian biathlete
Magdalena Neuner. Within the IOC, Munich was allied with IOC vice president
Thomas Bach. Munich nevertheless already considered a bid for
2022 before the 2018 bid failed. Following the 2018 loss, Germany focused on the
2036 Summer Olympics bidding with the capital city of
Berlin, currently in talks with
Israel's
Tel Aviv over possible joint bidding to mark the 100th anniversary of the
1936 Summer Olympics.
Pyeongchang After losing the bids for the
2010 and
2014 Winter Olympics, Gangwon Province Governor Jin-sun Kim announced in September 2007 that Pyeongchang would bid a third time. He cited increased knowledge of the bidding process and the enthusiasm of residents as reasons to keep trying. According to a survey by
The Chosun Ilbo on 23 December 2009, 91.4% of Koreans, 93.4% of Pyeongchang and
Jeongseon residents, and 93% of Gangwon residents supported the 2018 Winter Olympics bid.
Cho Yang-ho, Chairman of
Hanjin Group, was appointed as the bid committee chairman in 2009, and successfully won the bid in 2011. South Korea's figure skating superstar and
2010 Olympic champion Kim Yuna and IOC member and
Samsung Group chairman
Lee Kun-hee promoted the bid. The
Samsung Chairman and principal owner
Lee Kun-hee, given a 3-year suspended sentence for tax evasion and illegal bond dealing, was reportedly pardoned by the South Korean president
Lee Myung-bak with the hope that his connections and financial support would boost the chances of Pyeongchang. On 16 February 2011, the IOC Evaluation Commission arrived in Korea for inspection of Pyeongchang's bid. "We have seen great progress in the bid from the two previous bids," commission chairwoman Gunilla Lindberg said. "We have also seen progress in Korean winter sports during the last four years." Speaking at the IOC news conference following the inspection of Pyeongchang and venues in Gangwon Province, Lindberg said "I must also mention the passionate support of Gangwon residents. During our site visits it has been wonderful to see so many people to show their support to bring the Olympic Movement to Korea." Seven venues had been built since the previous bids, including
ski jumping slopes, and
biathlon and
cross-country skiing courses. Pyeongchang would be a compact Olympic Games, with travel times of less than 30 minutes between the main accommodation in Alpensia resort and the venues and 10 minutes between venues. A new 250 km per hour
KTX line will be built between Seoul and
Wonju via Pyeongchang putting Pyeongchang within 50 minutes of Seoul.
German reporter Dietmar Gessner from
Sport Bild said that "in Asia including Korea you can create more customers. You can make lots of money for winter sports." Pyeongchang's slogan is “New Horizons.” The bid's logo suggests the winter scenery of Pyeongchang with snow on the mountains. The curve implies a will to win and symbolizes a snowboard and slope of winter sports. ==Votes results of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics==