DECISION 2018: Outsiders Annecy promise a return to more intimate Olympic tradition

By Sportsbeat staff

ANNECY have promised a return to a more intimate atmosphere at the Winter Olympics if they are successful in their 2018 bid - and they've played down suggestions their campaign has disappointing local support. 

PROMISE: Annecy's 2018 bid team have promised full stadia, despite reports of flagging local support for their Winter Olympic bid

When France lasted staged the Winter Olympics, in Albertville in 1992, the Games were criticised for lacking any atmosphere, with events spread across a huge swathe of the Savoie region.

The next Games, staged in the tiny Norwegian town of Lillehammer, returned the Winter Olympics to a more intimate tradition but subsequent events have been held in bigger and bigger cities.

In Turin and Vancouver, hosts in 2006 and 2010, snow events were staged more than three hours travelling time away from other sports.

But Annecy, whose proposed initial venues were originally criticised by an International Olympic Committee inspection team, have promised a return to the roots of event - with venues no more than 45 minutes apart and athletes housed just a few minutes from their respective competitions.

"We will stage authentic games at the heart of the mountains, it will be a unique celebration," said bid leader Charles Beigbeder, during a 45 minute presentation, peppered with well-crafted video support, to IOC members in Durban.

"We want a Games that are hosted by mountain communities, we won't bring people from the cities to the mountains.

"It will intimate, friendly, accessible and warm. We will bring snow and ice back together."

Annecy's bid has been plagued by internal problems with original bid leader Edgar Grosprion stepping aside in a row over the campaign budget.

Local support in the Mont Blanc region is seen as a major weakness, with British IOC member Adam Pengilly questioning whether a successful bid would struggle to fill venues.

"Results of opinion polls are perhaps less good than we would have hoped them to be because they were taken when we had internal difficulties," admitted French sports minister Chantal Jouanno.

"More recent opinion bolls are much better. 90 percent of the national population and between 60 and 70 percent of those locally support our bid.

"We won't have any problem filling stadia, indeed we will have to enlarge them because we are a country that loves sport and loves winter sport.

"We had 260,000 spectators at the World skiing championships in Val d'Isere - a record for that event."

Election frontrunners Pyeongchang will be the final candidate to make their presentation to the IOC's membership, 95 of whom will be eligible to cast their votes later today.

© Sportsbeat 2011