Candidates to host 2018 Winter Olympics announced

The International Olympic Committee has announced three candidates to host the Winter Olympics in 2018. South Korea’s Pyeongchang is bidding for a third consecutive time and is considered the front-runner.

Germany’s Munich, which hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, will attempt to become the first city to host both the summer and winter games.

France’s Annecy is widely considered to be the outsider of the group as its bid was accepted on the condition that the concept of sport venues is redesigned in a new bid.

This is the smallest field of candidates in the past three decades, so the IOC was not under pressure to drop any of the cities.

The finalists will have to submit their detailed bid proposals to the IOC by January 11, 2011.