Appropriately the event at the BMW Welt, the museum of the bid's leading multi-million Euro sponsor, took place just a few hours after the first snowfall of the winter had left a light sprinkling in the Alps above the Bavarian city.

 

As expected, by last night's midnight deadline, Munich was one of only three cities who had officially told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that they planned to bid.

 

The others were Pyeongchang in South Korea and Annecy in France.

 

The logo, always an emotive subject as London 2012 discovered two years ago, was chosen following a nationwide vote of 50,000 Germans, which Munich officials claimed demonstrates the support for their bid which is seeking to make history by being the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

 

The winning design, which is based on a mountain range and could be interpreted as being the half-pipe in snowboarding or a ski jump, that was chosen came from leading Munich design agency, Zeichen & Wunder.

 

It was unveiled in the shadow of the futuristic Olympiapark that staged the 1972 Summer Games, with its sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilised by metal ropes and where the winners included Britain's Mary Peters in the pentathlon and America's Frank Shorter in the marathon, and which still takes the breath away even after all these years.

 

Among those attending today's event was Thomas Bach, the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and vice-president of the IOC, who is the chairman of the General Assembly of the Munich 2018 Bid Committee.

 

Bach told insidethegames, the only international media to attend the launch here, that he was not surprised by the lack of bidding cities, which were reduced even further yesterday after Harbin in China withdrew because of lack of support from the Chinese Government.

 

He did not believe it would make any difference to how the race is run.

 

 

Bach (pictured right with Christian Ude, the Lord Mayor of Munich) said: "In this race there is only one medal and that is the gold medal.

 

"It doesn't matter how many competitors you have - it's about winning, it's not about getting second or third.

 

"Anyone witnessing the jubilation of Rio’s representatives in Copenhagen when it was awarded the Games for 2016, will have seen how important and moving the decision for this major sports event can be."

 

Dr Christoph Bergner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, said: "Munich, symbolically, is now at the very heart of Germany, as their application to host the winter Games is on behalf of our whole nation.

 

"In many respects, the application sends out an important international signal. Germany’s bid can represent a milestone in the history of development of sport throughout the country.

 

"Munich 1972 left many positive long-lasting benefits and Munich 2018 can continue that story."

Ude said: "Munich 2018 is proposing a two-cluster concept which is environmentally friendly, compact, sustainable, and creates just the right conditions to host a Games with an incomparable atmosphere for fans and the Olympic family.

 

"By working closely with my colleagues from Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Schönau am Königssee, we will be able to form a really strong team to manage and deliver this highly prestigious but complex project.”

Richard Adam, the joint managing director of Munich 2018, said: "The new logo has been very well received.

 

"Everyone at Munich 2018 is thrilled that so many people across Germany took part in the vote.

 

"We believe that this is a positive sign of the high level of local and national support that our bid will enjoy in the months ahead."

 

Also today, Munich 2018 relaunched its website.
 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].

 

 

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