International Capsules: Three cities set to make final list for 2018 Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — One year before the host-city vote, the race for the 2018 Winter Olympics starts in earnest Tuesday when the IOC selects the candidates that will go forward to the final phase.

Unlike previous shortlist decisions, this one involves little suspense: All the contenders are expected to make the cut in what is already the smallest bidding field in three decades.

The International Olympic Committee executive board is likely to accept all three — Annecy, France; Munich; and Pyeongchang, South Korea — as official bid cities, removing their previous tag as "applicant" cities.

The three cities have been campaigning on a low-key basis since last October when they were the only ones to apply to host the games. Once accepted as finalists, they will be allowed to launch more visible international lobbying efforts.

Pyeongchang, bidding for a third consecutive time, is seen as the front-runner, with Munich as the main challenger and Annecy as the outsider. Although Annecy appears a longshot, there seems to be no desire in the IOC to drop the French bid, particularly since there are so few candidates in the race.

The 15-member executive board will receive a recommendation from an IOC working group which studied the cities' replies to a detailed questionnaire on key issues.

"We've all seen the preliminary reports from the cities," British executive board member Craig Reedie told The Associated Press. "It is important for us to receive a recommendation from the working group and to decide if all three cities go through or not.

"Personally, in my view, all three bids are acceptable and should go forward. With only three candidates, it would seem unlikely you would eliminate one."

The finalists will have to submit their detailed bid proposals to the IOC by Jan. 11, 2011. An IOC evaluation commission will visit each city next year, and the full IOC will select the 2008 host by secret ballot at its session in Durban, South Africa, on July 6, 2011.

It's the fewest number of Winter Games bids since 1981, when three finalists competed for the 1988 Olympics, which were awarded to the Canadian city of Calgary. There were seven bids for the 1992 Games, four for 1994, six for 1998, nine for 2002 (cut to four finalists), six for 2006, eight for 2010 (pared to four finalists) and seven for 2014 (reduced to three finalists).

Reedie said the global economic crisis was a likely reason for the reduced field.

"We live in a more complicated financial world than before," he said. "You look at the concerns of Vancouver and London in this present climate, and the IOC should be pleased to have three first-class bids."

Pyeongchang, located in the Alpensia mountains east of Seoul, is back again after narrowly losing out to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics and to Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Games. Korean organizers say they have learned from those defeats and claim their games would be the most compact in history. The bid is led by Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho.

Munich, which staged the 1972 Summer Olympics, aims to become the first city to host both the summer and winter games. Led by former skier and moviemaker Willy Bogner and two-time figure skating gold medalist Katarina Witt, the Bavarian bid proposes holding ice events in Munich and snow competitions in the mountain resorts of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Koenigssee. Garmisch hosted the Winter Games in 1936.

The Savoy lakeside resort of Annecy is making its first Olympic bid, although France has staged the Winter Games three times — Chamonix 1924, Grenoble 1968 and Albertville 1992. Annecy, led by former moguls gold medalist Edgar Grospiron, proposes using eight ski resorts around Mont Blanc, including Chamonix, Megeve and Morzine.

Reedie said the 2018 bids will be judged on the success of the Vancouver Games, which won high marks for their full arenas and festive atmosphere despite weather problems and the death of a Georgian luger in a training crash.

"They produced extremely good games after the most difficult of starts," Reedie said. "The members will probably be thinking, 'What is the best way of carrying on the message of Vancouver?'"

During the two-day meeting, the IOC board will also hear progress reports from organizers of the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Games.

BP intends to remain London 2012 sponsor

LONDON (AP) — BP intends to remain one of the biggest London 2012 sponsors despite its problems in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP UK executive Peter Mather said Monday the company has no intention of withdrawing its sponsorship of the London Olympics, a deal valued at about $58 million.

"This is something we've committed to a long time ago and will remain committed to," he said.

The company said it has spent $2 billion responding to the massive ongoing oil spill triggered by an explosion on a BP oil rig April 20. It has come under criticism in the United States for its handling of the spill.

London 2012 organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe confirmed BP's ongoing involvement.

"The partnership is still really strong," Coe said. "Their track record is one of the best. They understand the movement behind the games."

BP became a London Olympic sponsor in July 2008. The company is also a sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The London organizing committee marked the start of the two-year countdown to the start of the 2012 Games by launching a series of sporting and cultural events across Britain.

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