SOUTH AFRICA: OLYMPICS - Annecy delegates hoping to win 2018 Winter Olympic Games state their case

Record ID: 455531

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: OLYMPICS - Annecy delegates hoping to win 2018 Winter Olympic Games state their case
  • Date: 5th July 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL OLYMPIC AND SPORTS COMMITTEE, DENNIS MASSEGLIA, SAYING (OFFICIAL TRANSLATION): "Things must be clear: our committee was unanimously determined to be the candidate for the winter games in 2018. Of the four cities (trying to be French candidate) Annecy won in the first round. That means the case that was presented was better than the others and the whole sports world sees that the bidding of Annecy demonstrates the ambition of France to organise the winter games"
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAMWB2IDLS251VA2P1UFADZTXZ
  • Story Text: The delegation from the French city of Annecy bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics said on Monday (July 4) that they wanted to host the event for a world that needed the values of sport.
    Annecy is competing with Germany's Munich and South Korea's Pyeongchang and the winner will be decided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday (July 6) at its session in Durban, South Africa, where the French delegates were speaking at a news conference.
    The president of the bid, Charles Beigbeder said: "I said we want games to be very strong, we need the games, the world needs the games and we want that they are at the top always and they are not there -- they go beyond commercial and business stuff. So that's what I wanted to explain when I said games are not there for a company or for a country, or for a continent; they are there for the world, they are there for all of us, for the billions of inhabitants of this planet, which needs the values of sport and that's why games are about."
    Dennis Masseglia, president of the national Olympic and sports committee, said Annecy's success in the first round of voting among four French cities to make a bid for 2018 showed its determination to succeed.
    Annecy has battled several problems in compiling its bid, including the departure of its chief executive Edgar Grospiron, who resigned last December after complaining of a lack of funds.
    However, Beigbeder said on Monday: "So our vision is very clear again: our vision is that we want to serve Olympism; it is a candidacy for Olympism for the future and we will fight a lot to deliver and to bring that to the Olympic movement and hopefully to win."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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