Seven cities apply for 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Seven cities apply for 2014 Olympic Winter Games{mosimage}The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that seven cities have been put forward by their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to apply to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014.

The cities, in alphabetical order, are: Almaty (Kazakhstan), Borjomi (Georgia), Jaca (Spain), PyeongChang (Republic of Korea), Salzburg (Austria), Sochi (Russia), Sofia (Bulgaria).

NOCs had until midnight on July 28, 2005, to notify the IOC that a city within their jurisdiction was interested in applying.

The seven Applicant Cities will now proceed to phase 1 of the IOC’s two-step procedure, which will lead to the election of the 2014 host city in Guatemala City in July 2007.

Phase 1, known as the candidature acceptance procedure, involves a thorough review by the IOC of each city’s potential to organize the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Cities will be asked to reply to a questionnaire. Their answers will be studied by the IOC in order to help the IOC Executive Board to select the cities that will become Candidate Cities and therefore move on to Phase 2.

During Phase 2, known as the candidature procedure, Candidate Cities will be requested to submit their candidature file, that is to say an in-depth description of their Olympic project, and prepare for the visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission. The Evaluation Commission will make a technical assessment of each candidature and publish a report one month before the election of the host city for IOC members to review.

Information on the Candidature Acceptance Procedure, including the questionnaire to which Applicant Cities will have to respond by February 1, 2006, and the rules applicable to this process, can be found at www.Olympic.org.

KEY DATES :

February 1, 2006 Applicant Cities to reply to IOC questionnaire
February 2006 Applicant Cities Observer Programme at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games
June 21-23, 2006 Acceptance of Candidate Cities by the IOC Executive Board in Lausanne
June 23, 2006 Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire made available to
Candidate Cities
January 10, 2007 Candidature file to be submitted to the IOC
Mid-February Mid-April 2007 IOC Evaluation Commission visits Candidate Cities
June 2007 Publication of the Evaluation Commission report
July 2007 Election of the 2014 Host City in Guatemala City