Two German members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission have resigned to avoid a possible conflict of interest, the IOC said Friday.
They are IOC member Walther Troeger and Oskar Fischer, a representative of the International Ski Federation. The two resigned because according to Salzburg’s bid the bobsleigh competition will be in Germany. Salzburg plans to use the nearby world-class Koenigssee bobsleigh track in Germany if it wins the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Also Italian sports administrator Luciano Barro, deputy CEO of the organizing committee of the Turin 2006 Winter Games dropped out because he will be working as a consultant for one of the 2014 bids.
The IOC said it doesn’t plan to replace the three men on the commission, which now has 16 members.
Meanwhile PyeongChang South Korea will be the first stop on the IOC Evaluation Commission’s tour of the three cities bidding for the 2014 Games.
The IOC panel will visit PyeongChang February 14-17, Sochi February 20-23, and Salzburg March 14-17.
The commission, comprising IOC members and Olympic experts, will issue a report assessing the three bids a month before the vote on the host city in Guatemala City in July 2007. The three candidate cities must submit a detailed bid file to the IOC by January 10.
