Swiss Olympic bids deemed unfit

The Swiss Olympic Association says the two potential Swiss bids for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games are not yet ready for serious consideration.

At a meeting on Tuesday of the association’s executive committee, it was declared that neither the Bern-Montreux, nor the Zurich-Graubünden, proposal reached the international standards necessary for such a high calibre event.

Sports experts said that as they currently stand, the Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) would flatly reject the proposals.

Despite the weaknesses, the committee said it was indeed favourable towards a Swiss bid to host the Games. But, made it clear that such a bid had to be realistic.

The two potential bidders have until the end of June 2001 to polish their proposals. Three months later Switzerland’s Sports Parliament will determine which of the two should be allowed to go ahead with its plan.

The winning Swiss candidate would then be presented to the IOC in January 2002, and only in the summer of 2003 would the IOC declare the final victor in the race to host the Games seven years later.

swissinfo with agencies