The 28-year-old San Antonio Spurs point guard joins prestigious sports figures such as Aresenal manager Arsène Wenger, former France and Real Madrid midfielder Zinédine Zidane, sprinter Christophe Lemaitre and French alpine skier Jean-Baptiste Grange in declaring his backing for the French bid.

"Like nearly 600 athletes who are supporting the bid, I say yes to Annecy 2018," said the triple NBA champion.

Parker was born in Belgium but was raised in France and calls Paris home, hence his allegiance to the Annecy bid.

Parker played for two years in the French basketball league before entering the 2001 NBA Draft.

He has since become a major star in America partly due to his marriage to actress Eva Longoria who is best known for her role television series Desperate Housewives.

However, the pair divorced earlier this year citing "irreconcilable differences".

The Annecy 2018 bid is widely considered to be the outsider a three horse race with Pyeongchang and Munich but Parker's support is the latest boost to their hopes after the city received a much-needed financial injection earlier this after they agreed six new sponsorship deals to increase their budget by €3 million (£2.5 million/$4 million) to €30 million (£26 million/$43 million).

Charles Beigbeder, the President of Annecy 2018, revealed that he had agreed the deals with Air France, GL Events, Havas Sports & Entertainment, Institut Merieux and LVHM.

Annecy's campaign has been plagued by a number of financial problems which led to Beigbeder's predecessor and former Olympic champion Edgar Grospiron resigning as the chief executive of the bid in December.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2011: Multi-million dollar boost for Annecy 2018
April 2011: Annecy in new crisis as deputy director general resigns
April 2011: Arsenal boss supports Annecy bid
April 2011: Banners greet delegates as Annecy bid protest grows
April 2011: Beigbeder hoping Sarkozy sparkle can bring Winter Olympics to Annecy