Annecy, which endured a turbulent campaign due to squabbles over funding and a change of CEO before gaining stability in the final months ahead of the vote, fell well short of PyeongChang’s winning total of 63 and even second-placed Munich on 25 votes. However, the French National Olympic Committee (FNOC) has not ruled out entering the race for the 2024 Games, 100 years on from the 1924 Paris Olympics.
“There will not be a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralaympics,” read a statement from the FNOC. “The French committee will define the conditions for a future project by the end of 2011. A new Olympic bid must have the vision of the sports movement for the sport of the future. It must be worked out sufficiently in advance and be carried out in total harmony by the sports movement, the bid city and the state.”
The Italian capital of Rome remains the only city to have officially submitted a bid for the 2020 Games, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having set a deadline of September 1 for applicant cities to register their interest. Tokyo and Istanbul are expected to confirm bids in the coming weeks, while a Middle Eastern country is also expected to enter the running.
There is also increasing speculation that South Africa’s Government could perform a u-turn on its surprising original decision against bidding for the Olympics after IOC president Jacques Rogge declared the country as “ready” to host the Games after last week’s IOC Session in Durban. The IOC will vote on the 2020 host city in 2013.
