The French government have promised to do everything in their power to ensure Annecy win the bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, bid committee vice-president Jean-Pierre Vidal said on Monday.
Vidal, the 2002 Olympic slalom champion, said sports minister Chantal Jouanno had shown herself to be "very involved" in the dossier and was "ready to do everything to win."
"We're well advanced. We're currently working on the format with rehearsals for the talks and the key messages that we want to get across," said Vidal, who also praised their new bid president Charles Beigbeder, who filled the post vacated in December by Edgar Grospiron last week.
"Charles has shown overwhelming enthuasiasm. It's very important in the phase that we're in. It's a real strength."
The French bid also includes double Olympic skiing champion Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden who was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for eight years and is a vice-president for the Annecy bid.
As well as Annecy the candidates also include Munich in Germany and South Korea's Pyeongchang. All three submitted their final bids, paving the way for inspections, last week.
The IOC evaluation commission will carry out its on-site visits to Annecy on February 8 to 12, Pyeongchang on February 16-19 and Munich on March 1 to 4.
The evaluation report will be submitted to IOC members on May 18 to 19, ahead of their final vote at the Olympic committee's session in July 6 in Durban, South Africa.
Pyeongchang, who are bidding for a third time after twice finishing second, and Munich are regarded as the front runners to follow 2014 host Sochi, after their more favourable preliminary IOC assessment last June.
Source: AFP Global Edition
