SOUTH AFRICA: OLYMPICS - Ice skating legend Katarina Witt promotes Munich bid for 2018 Winter Olympics

Record ID: 455303

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: OLYMPICS - Ice skating legend Katarina Witt promotes Munich bid for 2018 Winter Olympics
  • Date: 5th July 2011
  • Summary: DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 4, 2011) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVABJ5HD7TO8S5VAIXXQYICISJZP
  • Story Text: With just two days to go before the IOC decide who will host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Munich 2018 Bid chairperson Katarina Witt told reporters in Durban Monday (July 4) that she was confident that if successful Munich will deliver a fantastic atmosphere for the games.
    "Yes you know being competitors ourselves we know what it means to compete in an environment where there is an enthusiastic crowd, we have knowledgeable fans where stadiums are filled with a magical atmosphere, and we know we can deliver this in 2018" she said.
    Munich is up against South Korea's Pyeongchang and France's Annecy, if Munich's bid were to be successful the German city would to become the first city to host both the summer and winter Games after staging the 1972 Olympics.
    Munich's concept is based around two zones, Munich and Alpine town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well as a standalone sliding venue at Koenigssee.
    Twelve time paralympic medalist Verena Bentele, a blind biathlete and cross country skier, told reporters that the paralympic games would also be well received in Germany.
    Munich and Garmisch have extensive winter sports experience while German companies alone provide about 50 percent of sponsorship for the seven winter sports federations, but while Munich has secured the final parcel of land for the competition venues from local owners, some land outside the competition venues but within the wider Olympic area has still to be secured.
    In May each of the three bid's made their final techincal presentations to the IOC at the Olympic museum in Lausanne, a moment which according to Witt gave the Munich bid extra momentum.
    " It was for everyone a really good presentation in a way that we had the 89 members from the IOC sitting in the meeting room and really consciously listening to the bids and putting their thoughts into it," she said.
    The IOC will announce the host city for the 2018 games on Wednesday, June 6th.
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