By Duncan Mackay in Vancouver

February 19 - Ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (pictured) has added his backing to Munich's bid to host the 2018 Olympics by visiting Germany House here, where he met the bid's managing director Richard Adam.



The visit of Gretzky, Canada's most popular-ever sportsman and who competed in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano and who lit the flame at the opening ceremony here last week, helped add to the feel-good factor around the German team, who are currently second in the medals table behind the United States with a total of 11, four of them gold.

Munich is also making the most presented by the opportunity of having as its chair Katarina Witt, arguably the most high-profile of the dozens of former Olympic champions attending the Games.

Witt, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic figure skating champion who is also commentating for German television channel ARD, has also taken the opportunity to travel with Willy Bogner, the chief executive of Munich 2018, to Grouse Mountain, which offer spectacular views of the Winter Olympic Host City below.

Followed by a crew from ARD that is producing Witt's Olympic Dairy, the two Olympians wanted to get a sense of what it was like to step just outside the Games and add a new dimension to their experience of Vancouver.

Bogner represented Germany in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics in downhill skiing.

He said: "It has been a joy to ski up here during the Games.

"I love skiing so close to the centre of the city and taking in the beauty of British Columbia’s crown jewel.

"It definitely puts me in mind of Munich where the mountains are just beyond the doorstep of the city."

Bogner and Witt agreed that having ski resorts so close to the city helps to develop the kind of passionate, knowledgeable fan base that creates the atmosphere essential to the Olympic Winter Games. 

He said: "You can feel the winter sport spirit all across this city.

"Just like our nation, the Canadians are crazy about winter sport."

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