At a ceremony on the Marienplatz in Munich’s historic city centre, thousands of Munich 2018 supporters were there to observe Christian Ude, Lord Mayor of Munich, present the 396-page Munich 2018 bid book to Katarina Witt, Chair of Munich 2018 and Bernhard Schwank, CEO of Munich 2018.
The bid book will be flown Monday from Munich to Lausanne, the IOC’s headquarters, to be officially delivered Tuesday.
Witt said, “this bid book demonstrates the core values at the heart of Munich 2018 – an athlete-friendly, compact concept with solid planning for sustainability and the environment. The document that we will deliver tomorrow is a powerful demonstration of the close relationship with athletes that is the foundation of Munich 2018’s promise to the Olympic Movement”.
Schwank added, “we are excited to submit our groundbreaking plans and ideas to the IOC in Lausanne tomorrow. Munich 2018’s bid book is the result of two years of hard work and we will continue to increase our efforts to share our vision as we build towards the decision in July”.
The bid book contains a multi-party agreement that reaffirms government support for the bid. Its 47 guarantees were signed in the German Chancellery by representatives of every political level.
Thomas Bach, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, Chair of the Munich 2018 Shareholders Assembly and IOC Vice-President, said, “the Candidature File leaving Munich marks the beginning of the bid’s final phase. Tomorrow will be a great day and a huge milestone for Munich’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018. Now the bid committee must work hard to spread the message of the Festival of Friendship to (the) world and keep Germany’s unrivalled capacity for hosting winter sports events and the unique environmental and sustainability concept at the forefront of everyone’s minds”.
