Coe Warns Winter Games Bidders to Lobby Until Last Moment

International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice president Seb Coe, who led London’s successful campaign to host the 2012 Olympics, has urged the three cities bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics to lobby right up until the last moment.

Annecy, Munich and Pyeongchang are now all entering the final stages of lobbying before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes a decision at its Session in Durban on July 6.

Coe stated: “These are three extremely good bids.

“As you approach the final stages of a bid race, it is vitally important to be consistent in the message that you are trying to get across to the Olympic Movement.

“You need to know exactly what you should be saying and exactly how you should be saying so that you never lose that consistency.

“But the key is to keep going and keep lobbying until there really are no more minutes left.”

“When you must lobby, it must be sensitive but you must be sure that you constantly reemphasise all the reasons why you should be staging an Olympic and Paralympic Games and you must do that until the very end,” Coe told insidethegames. 

He added: “I am not following the 2018 race all that closely because I have a minor problem in trying to figure out how to organise an Olympic and Paralympic Games in London next year.

“But I will be in Durban where I will be presenting to the Session and I am fully aware there three very, very good bids on the table who could all stage a spectacular event in 2018.”