Grospiron won the first Olympic gold medal in moguls at the 1992 Games in Albertville, not far from the lakeside town of Annecy in France's Savoy region.

Grospiron, whose family have lived in Annecy for more than 30 years, also won the bronze medal in moguls at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

A three-time world champion, he retired in 1995.

Grospiron's appointment was announced by the Annecy bid committee, which includes former France football coach Aime Jacquet, who guided the team to the World Cup title in 1998, and Jean-Pierre Vidal, the 2002 Olympic slalom gold medallist.

He said: "I am very proud to have been chosen [to lead the bid]."

Grospiron, 40, will officially start his new role tomorrow.

He said: "Our first goal is to impress the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports federations at the Olympic Games in Vancouver."

Annecy is considered the outsider of the three bidding cities, which includes Munich and Pyeongchang, and also at €15 million (£13 million) has a smaller budget than its rivals.

Grospiron said: "The budgets of our rivals are larger than ours but we have strengths on which we can build: the environment, authenticity, culture, skiing and ice sports."

Annecy is making its first Olympic bid, although France has staged the Winter Games three times, including Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968.

The Annecy committee claimed that 65 per cent of the infrastructure is already in place.

The IOC is due to choose the host city at its Session in Durban on July 6, 2011.

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