New colors for the French bid for 2018 Olympics

12/1/2009

In Annecy, on Tuesday 1st December at 11.00 am, on the suggested site for the opening ceremony of the Games, (the Pâquier), and exactly a year after the official launch of Annecy bid to the French National Olympic Sport Committee (CNOSF), the new logo of the international application was unveiled by sports champions in front of thousands of people.

On 1st December 2008, 2018’s first logo was unveiled at the bid’s official kick-start at the national selection phase initiated by the CNOSF.

Now part of the local landscape, this visual symbol reflects the powerful regional support for the bid and has gained considerable public approval generally.

However, after the CNOSF’s decision last March 18th, to nominate Annecy Haute-Savoie to carry the French bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2018, it was felt necessary to give the bid’s visual identity a fresh boost and an international dimension.

On the eve of the applicant cities information seminar organized by the IOC in Lausanne (Switzerland), from December 2nd to 5th, the unveiling of the Annecy 2018’s new logo, (which will appear progressively throughout the country over the next few weeks), is the opportunity to herald a new phase, that of total commitment over the next 19 months’ of international competition as we head towards the IOC decision scheduled for July 6th 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

Surrounded by the lake and mountains, so symbolic of the bid, Annecy 2018’s Committee, led by Jean-Luc Riga ut, Mayor of Annecy, Christian Monteil, President of the General Council of Haute-Savoie, Antoine DENERIAZ, Chief Ambassador and many sports champions and ambassadors present (Aime JACQUET, Florence Masnada , Edgar Grospiron, Perrine
Pelen, Jean-Pierre Vidal , Jean Vuarnet, Philippe Bozon ..) unveiled the new logo in front of thousands of spectators, untying ribbons in the colours of the Olympic rings, to reveal the new official symbol on a large format.

The representative of all competition sites proposed in the bid, Eric Fournier, Mayor of Chamonix, was also invited on stage to demonstrate the commitment of the whole region of Haute- Savoie to the bid.

The winter season is about to start and will be an opportunity for the Pays de Savoie ski resorts to share their enthusiasm for the French candidacy along with the tens of thousands of visitors expected at the heart of the world’s leading Winter sports destination.

The Bid Committee will present Annecy 2018’s bid, at a major press conference scheduled for January 2010.

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