Three cities applied with bids to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics (also known as XXIII Olympic Winter Games and XII Paralympic Winter Games) in October 2009. The International Olympic Committee, under the leadership of Jacques Rogge, received three bids on 15 October 2009. The cities of Annecy, France, in the French Alps, Munich, Germany (host of the 1972 Summer Olympics), and Pyeongchang, South Korea, a two-time previous bidder, competed for the hosting rights to the event. This was the lowest number of bidding cities since the 1988 Summer Olympics, coincidentally also won by South Korea. The winning bid was announced on 6 July 2011, at the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa by IOC President Jacques Rogge at 5.22 pm local time Pyeongchang beat Munich and Annecy in the first round of votes with 63 of the 95 total votes.

Bidding calendar 31 July 2009 – IOC invited bid applicants from NOCs. 15 October 2009 – Application Deadline 2–5 December 2009 – Applicant City Seminar – IOC Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland 15 March 2010 – Application Files Due 22 June 2010 – Candidate City Selection 11 January 2011 – Submission of candidature files and guarantees February – March 2011 – Evaluation Commission Site Visits 10 May 2011 – Evaluation Commission Report Released 18–29 May 2011 – Bid cities briefing, Lausanne 6 July 2011 – Winner Announced at 123rd IOC Session – Durban, South Africa

Applicant cities venues list These venues are from the applicant cities' mini bid books. Note that the selected candidate cities, and in particular Annecy, have changed their venues plan afterwards in the final proposal to the IOC.

+ 2018 applicant cities Event Pyeongchang Munich AnnecySlogan"New Horizons""A Festival of Friendship""Snow, ice and you!" (French: "La neige, la glace et vous!")Opening and closing ceremonies Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium (50,000) Bayern Olympiastadion (50,000) Ceremonial Plaza (Lac d'Annecy)Alpine skiingspeed M Jungbong Garmisch-Partenkirchen Chamonix-Mont-BlancAlpine skiingspeed W Jungbong Garmisch-Partenkirchen ChamonixAlpine skiingtechnical M Yongpyong Ski Resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen ChamonixAlpine skiingtechnical W Yongpyong Ski Resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen ChamonixCross country skiing Alpensia Berchtesgaden La ClusazNordic combined C-C Alpensia Berchtesgaden La ClusazFreestyle skiing Bokwang Zwiesel AnnecyBiathlon Alpensia Ruhpolding Le Grand-BornandSki jumping Alpensia Oberstdorf La ClusazSnowboard Bokwang Zwiesel AnnecyHockey Union Hockey ArenaKwandongMunchen EishalleOlympia Eishalle ChamonixCourchevelSpeed skating Science Oval Eisstadion Inzell, Inzell Annecy OvalFigure skating Gyeongpo Olympiahalle Annecy ArenaShort track Gyeongpo Olympiahalle Annecy ArenaCurling Gangneung Ice ArenaGangneung Olympia Sports Hall AnnecyBobsleigh/luge/skeleton Alpensia National Sliding Centre Schönau am Königsee La Plagne

Evaluation of the applicant cities Each cell of the table provides a minimum and a maximum figure obtained by the applicant city on the specific criteria. These figures are to be compared to a benchmark which has been set at 6.

+ Table of scores given by the IOC Working Group to assess the quality and feasibility of the 2018 Applicant cities Criteria Weight Munich Annecy Pyeongchang Min Max Min Max Min Max Governmental support, legal issues, public opinion 2 7.5 8.5 6.9 8.6 8.4 9.0 General infrastructure 5 8.0 9.0 5.4 6.9 6.7 8.0 Sport venues 4 7.0 8.6 5.6 6.9 6.8 8.5 Olympic Village(s) 3 6.2 7.6 4.5 5.8 6.2 7.9 Environmental conditions and impact 2 7.8 8.8 6.6 7.9 7.2 8.5 Accommodation 5 9.3 9.8 6.1 7.2 9.3 9.8 Transport concept 3 8.0 8.8 5.5 7.5 8.3 9.0 Safety and security 3 7.5 8.5 7.0 8.5 7.5 8.5 Experience from past sport events 3 9.0 10.0 9.0 10.0 8.0 9.0 Finance 3 6.7 8.6 6.9 8.5 6.9 8.3 Overall project and legacy 3 8.0 9.0 4.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 A firm criteria for the Winter Olympics is the availability of alpine ski slopes of certain sizes, which narrows down potential locations fairly much, and often means locations in less populated areas. The men's downhill requires at least 700 meters altitude difference along around 3 kilometers length.

All three bidding cities were short-listed.

Candidate cities overview All three cities suggested hosting the Games between 9–25 February 2018. The Paralympics will be held from 9–18 March.

Annecy Annecy Overview Details Votes 7 Country

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.Voeux du CNOSF – Pas de candidature française aux JO avant 2024 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.Feu-vert pour les Jeux d'hiver 2018 Annecy was elected as the official candidate city by the French NOC on 18 March 2009.Annecy, candidate pour les Jeux d'hiver de 2018 Le Monde 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, maintaining a humble approach.

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. However, his demission on 12 December 2010 raised questions on the viability of the bid. 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., Of the 13 venues, six venues would have required permanent upgrades, two new venues were already planned to be built, and four other venues would have been built if the Games were hosted in Annecy. Sliding events would have been at La Plagne, the same facilities that were used for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and which were upgraded in 2008.

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). Public support for the bid was 88% across France and 81% in the Annecy region.Annecy bid book, page 13

Annecy's logo featured the French Alps, specifically Mont Blanc, as well as suggesting the letter "A" for Annecy.

Munich Munich Overview Details Votes 25 Country