There are three competitors - Munich, Pyeongchang and Annecy - but only one medal is on offer.

As those engaged in the Munich bid seek to bring the Winter Games back to where they took place 64 years ago, they can reflect on many obvious strengths.

The Bavarian capital, looking at its best this week in bright September sunshine, is a relaxed, cosmopolitan city with an abundance of hotels and an efficient transport system.

The annual Oktoberfest, celebrating its 200th anniversary in traditional manner - Lederhosen, brass bands, uproarious singing and, oh yes, industrial levels of beer consumption - is offering compelling evidence of this city’s ability to accommodate international events, with a total of six million visitors being expected to let their collective hair down on Theresienweise in the course of the next fortnight.

Munich’s Olympic Park from the 1972 Summer Games would form one centre of infrastructure for the 2018 Games.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, its authentic charm carefully maintained by the local authorities - who maintain strict rules about the size and aspect of any new buildings - offers a compact base for the Alpine and Nordic events with a rich sporting tradition. And the fact that several of the competitors who returned in glory from this year’s Vancouver Games live in or near the town would only intensify the authentic atmosphere of appreciation that would accompany Olympic competition.

Skiing may not be the Mayor of Munich’s cup of tea - Christian Ude confessed on Thursday that he had only been skiing once, and had broken his leg within half an hour - but it is part of the culture here, as was evident when more than 20,000 people turned out in driving wind and rain to welcome home the Vancouver athletes at a reception in the city centre.

The imminence of the Alpine World Ski Championships, which will be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February next year - shortly after the Candidature Files are officially handed in to the IOC - has prompted renovation on Olympic lines.

The older K80 ski-jump which stands along the new 60m run will soon be replaced by a K90 ski-jump.

Work is also underway on the slalom course that runs down past the ski jumps, which will soon finish, as the jumps now do, inside the Olympic stadium that was built for the 1936 Games, and partially reconstructed in anticipation of the 1940 Winter Olympics, which were awarded to Garmisch-Partenkirchen before the Second World War put an end to that particular ambition.

Unlike in previous Winter Games, when spectators have only been able to see the arriving skiers as they flash into view on the final reaches, the whole of the slalom course will now be visible to the 28,000 spectators who would be expected to fill the venerable, but revamped stadium.

Further along the valley the famous Kanadahar downhill course, which has seen so many thrilling World Cup competitions over the years, has been redesigned to the latest international requirements. Having surveyed its vertiginous lower reaches from a cable car up to the summit of the Kreuzeck mountain, I can vouch for its scarily challenging nature.

All the skiing venues are accessible via rail, reducing the need for cars to be brought into the narrow streets of the town which sits at the foot of Germany’s highest mountain, the 2962 metres high Zugspitze, visible behind successive ranges of jagged, lesser summits.



Despite some local resistance, plans are in hand to build two tunnels at either end of the town, one leading back towards Munich, the other heading out towards the Austrian border and Salzburg, which would effectively form a bypass. According to a spokeswoman for Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it may take the award of the Games to turn those plans into action, but the notion is far from being a new one, having been debated publicly almost 30 years ago.

The Munich bid, whose major sponsors include BMW, Lufthansa and Lotto Bavaria, has already got the bulk of its required infrastructure in place, and a unique cultural appreciation of winter sports. There is no doubt that it is capable of delivering a successful 2018 Winter Games.

But earning the approval of International Olympic Committee members is still a somewhat mysterious process. It is often, as Lord Sebastian Coe likes to describe it, a matter of "mood music".

Annecy has already been ticked off by the IOC over its overly disparate locations and complex planning. But if the French bid responds as directed, will that convince some IOC members that they have been properly listened to?

Pyeonchang, which has recently opened its prestigious Alpensia Resort Complex, can offer to extend and expand IOC interests in Asia. Will the IOC, as the International Association of Athletics Federations has done in bringing Shanghai into its new Diamond League event, give priority to expansion rather than security of mind?

The South Korean bidders, of course, are making their third attempt for the Games, having lost out successively to Vancouver and Sochi. But Paris, who were turned down a third time in favour of London five years ago, will vouch for the fact that sentiment is not always a telling factor.

The Munich bid may be sound and convincing, but there has been a back story of changing personnel, with Bernhard Schwank becoming the third CEO in the space of a year following the departure of Richard Adam and Willy Bogner, who stepped down this month because of ill health.

The reshuffling has also meant Katerina Witt (pictured with Bogner), the double Olympic figure skating champion, stepping up to become a hugely charismatic chair of the bid, with some seeing her as a potentially winning influence in the manner of a Coe. Such speculation is a tribute to Witt’s virtues, but it is hardly fair to compare her to a tested politician.

Local resistance in Garmisch-Partenkirchen has not been restricted to the subject of traffic tunnels. From the vantage point of the big ski jump, one can look down to the left of the town which straddles the Partnach River to a wide stretch of fields dotted randomly with what appear to be wooden chalets which are, in fact, ancient storehouses for hay and wood, many of them 300 or 400 years old.

The farmers who own this land, unsurprisingly, were unenthusiastic about proposals to build the Media and Snow Villages there. But a week ago it was announced that, following discussions between the Bavarian State Chancellery and local government officials, that land would remain completely untouched.

Competing athletes will now be housed in Garmisch, with access to a swimming pool and skating rink for their own entertainment, while a media centre will now replace the defunct bowling alley which used to be used by the US Army forces stationed in the town.
The media will be largely housed in hotels at Murnau, equidistant from Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, allowing the possibility of covering skiing and skating events on the same day.

Schwank, who was Chef de Mission of the successful German team at this year’s Vancouver Games and played for the German Universities football team at several World Championships in the mid 80s, spoke to media representatives inside one of the Oktoberfest tents on Thursday afternoon, by which point mass singing was already breaking out on the packed tables below our balcony. One experienced Oktoberfester remarked that the scene below, reminiscent of the Frimley Green world darts tournament at its most boisterous, was a mere prelude to what might transpire later that nights...

"We are convinced we have the right team now," said Schwank, loudly. "I am sure we won’t need to change any more.

"We send all our best wishes to Willy, who will stay with us as a member of the Supervisory Board. His advice will be very helpful to us.

"Katerina is a double Olympic champion who is a great ambassador, and she knows what athletes really need."

On the issue of the land usage, Schwank said he was absolutely convinced the issues would be completely resolved. "There are only a few details left," he added.

"We would be very glad to have the chance of making history by becoming the first city to host the Summer and Winter Games. We have to show that the whole country really wants these Games. It will send a strong sign to our sports and our youth. We have had strong support for the bid from the federal and regional government, and this is very important.

"Our team has recently returned from Vancouver, where it was a great atmosphere. The Olympic Village worked well for the athletes and the transport system went well. We want to offer in addition our special Bavarian attitude."

Asked how his bid might compare with the potentially innovative offering by Pyeonchang, Schwank responded: "I think that Germany is the heartland of winter sports, and a big contributor to the Olympic Movement. We want the Games so we can regenerate and revitalise the Olympic Movement in Germany."

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames