Switzerland makes final bid for 2006 Winter Olympics

Switzerland was among the six nations which on Friday made their final bids for the 2006 Olympic Winter games, using video presentations and celebrities for their impassioned appeals. The International Olympic Committed will announce the winner Saturday.

Switzerland was among the six nations which on Friday made their final bids for the 2006 Olympic Winter games, using video presentations and celebrities for their impassioned appeals. The winner will be announced by the International Olympic Committee in Seoul on Saturday.

The Swiss town of Sion was making its third bid for the games.

Sports Minister Adolf Ogi — who presented the Swiss bid to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (left) — has come out strongly in favour of hosting the Olympics. Ogi said it was “now or never.”

The Swiss video presentation in Seoul was a blend of fact and fiction. Swiss myths and a narrative about the symbolic search for the Olympic rings alternated with factual information about Sion as host town.

In its presentation, the Swiss delegation was portraying Switzerland as an economically and socially stable country, which has first-rate winter sports facilities and vast experience in staging major international events.

The video also tried to present Switzerland as a country opening up and embracing top athletes from around the world.

Sion polished its campaign after it lost out to Salt Lake City for the 2002 event and the bidding committee said plans had improved significantly.

Sion is generally seen as standing a good chance of clinching the nomination for host town this time round.

Earlier in the year, a report by an IOC evaluation team gave Sion a glowing review, putting Sion’s bid apparently well above that of its nearest rival, the Italian city of Turin.

“If the criteria are technical, it is Sion which should win,” said Jean-Daniel Mudry, Director-General of Sion’s bidding committee.

Officials said that the corruption scandal, which recently engulfed the IOC, based in nearby Lausanne, had not affected Sion’s chances.

Senior Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler last year alleged widespread corruption in the selection of Olympic cities and local media worried that Sion’s prospects could suffer serious damage.

But the Swiss bidding committee said that the scandal did not affect sponsorship efforts and that the “emotional” phase would surely give way to a more rational and factual approach.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.