By Duncan Mackay

Gian GilliJanuary 8 - Switzerland has appointed leading official Gian Gilli to carry out a feasibility study into a proposed joint bid from Davos and St Moritz to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, it has been announced.


Gilli, who is also Switzerland's Chef de Mission for the London 2012 Olympics, will produce a report that will be studied by the country's sports federations at a meeting due to be held in April.

"We have a unique opportunity and I am optimistic that we can come up with a good concept that would make holding the Winter Olympics there good sense," said Gilli, one of Switzerland's leading sports officials who was the chief organiser of the 2003 World Skiing Championships in St Moritz and the 2009 World Ice Hockey Championships in Bern and Kloten. 

Davos and St Moritz are both located in Graubünden, the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland, and a referendum on whether to bid for the Games is set to be held there in November. 

Switzerland are also one of the most successful countries in the history of the Winter Olympics, having a total of 127 medals, including 44 gold, 18 of them in Alpine skiing.

But it has not hosted the Winter Olympics since St Moritz in 1948.

Switzerland has put forward unsuccessful bids by the Valais area of the country in 1976, 2002 and 2006.

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