Munich 2018 showed a specially recorded video from German Chancelloer Angela Merkel while Annecy pulled off something of a coup by having a personal message from Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, urging voters to back their bid.

Bruni was not the only video star for Annecy as Jean-Claude Killy, the triple Olympic champion and one of the most influential members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), kicked off their presentation with a highly personal tribute to chief executive Edgar Grospiron.

Pyeongchang, the third bidders, meanwhile, also relied heavily on video to show a series of striking images designed to demonstrate that the South Korean city is a vibrant dynamic place that is worthy of hosting the Games after two narrow failures.

The 20 minute presentations to the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), attended by more than a 1,000 delegates from over 200 countries, were all well received by the audience, which contained about 20 members of the IOC, who will vote for the winner at its Session in Durban on July 6, 2011.

Following the order that they will observe throughout the bid process, Munich were the first city up and their presentation was led by Thomas Bach, the vice-president of the IOC, whose opening remarks were in Spanish, Katarina Witt, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic figure skating champion, and Claudia Bokel, an Olympic fencing silver medallist who is also a member of the IOC.

They premiered a series of videos that were intended to show the friendliness of the Bavarian city that is seeking to become the first in Olympic history to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

"We'd like to do for the Winter Olympics what Germany did for the 2006 FIFA World Cup," Bach said.

Merkel's message included the pledge that the bid "had the complete and total backing of my Government" as Munich 2018 seeks to "extend a hand of friendship to the world through sport".

Bernhard Schwank, the chief executive of Munich 2018, also unveiled a new programme - the Munich 2018 NOC Friendship Hospitality Programme - which would see dozens of German German cities offering to host training camps for countries who do not enjoy the luxury of winter sport facilities.



Annecy's presentation started, rather strangely, with Killy apologising for not being there but then turned into him giving a powerful message of support to Grospiron, the 1992 Olympic moguls champion, who he said he had known since he was five.

It was clearly designed to position Grospiron as a figure in the mould of Sebastian Coe, who became the figure-head of London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

When Bruni's image was flashed onto the screen there was a grasp from the audience who listened intently as, in French, she pledged her support to the bid.

"Like all the French people, I would be delighted to applaud athletes from all over the world as they climb the Olympic podiums," she said.

"It would be a great honour for my country to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Annecy.

"I am aware that you would be placing your full trust in us, and we therefore stand at your entire disposal.

"We would be very proud to work with you to bring the Olympic ideal to life.

"Now we wait only for you to celebrate together the Olympic spirit and the magic of the performance."

Annecy also received backing from Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg, a former IOC Member and two-time Olympic Alpine skiing gold medallist, who joined the French delegation on the stage.

"I have joined Edgar and his team because I believe in the power of the Olympic values and their bid," she said.

"It feels very natural for me to be part of this bid.

"I have never ever before witnessed a bid that takes the athletes' opinions so seriously.

"I am an idealist, and sport can change lives.

"Annecy will change yours."

Pyeongchang, who are perceived to be the early frontrunners having narrowly lost out to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics and Sochi for 2014, showed two videos which showcased Pyeongchang.

Led by chairman and chief executive Yang Ho Cho, they gave their presentation in English and aimed to emphasise that they had kept their promises to the IOC by building facilities and launching the Dream Programme, an initiative designed to give youngsters from developing countries the opportunity to take part in winter sport.

During the presentation, the Pyeongchang delegation explained how their vision is brought alive through the overall campaign message of "New Horizons", and how this concept will help the IOC and International Federations expand winter sports to new areas of the world.

"Pyeongchang 2018 aspires to offer the Olympic Movement and the world of winter sports a legacy of new growth and new potential like never before – a world of ‘New Horizons’," Cho said.

"Interest in winter sports is growing fast in Asia.

"Each year 1.5 million foreign tourists visit Korea to enjoy our winter activities and that number is increasing.

"Our efforts will expand Olympic interest across our continent and will connect winter sports to millions of new hearts and minds." 

They also revealed that, if they were successful, they would launch an NOC hospitality programme, including providing space for countries that wanted to set up hospitality programmes in Pyeongchang during the Games.

Pyeongchang's presentation also featured the international debut of Lee Kwang-jae, the new Governor of Gangwon Province, who replaced Kim Jin-sun, who had been so closely linked with the city's two previous bids.

Lee spoke a few words of English of introduction while there was also a presentation from Moon Dae-Sung, the 2004 Olympic taekwondo champion, who is now a member of the IOC.

The controversial Lee Kun-hee, who had controversially had his IOC membership restored in February, was part of the delegation but did not speak nor acknowledged publicly.
 
He had been convicted in July 2008 of failing to pay $39 million (£24 million) in taxes, following allegations he hid money in accounts held under the names of aides, which led to him being fined 110 billion won (£58 million), a South Korean record, and given a three-year suspended prison sentence.

Lee had been given a special Presidential pardon earlier this year so that he could rejoin the IOC and campaign on behalf of Pyeongchang.

He seems set to confine himself to a backroom role mingling with potential voters but not publicly promoting the bid.

The next opportunity for the bidders to give an international presentation will be at the African National Olympic Committees meeting in Nairobi at the beginning of next month before they move to Belgrade to address  the European Olympic Committees (EOC).

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