By Tom Degun

Sebastian_Coe_with_Katarina_Witt_London_April_2011May 23 - The three cities bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics need to lobby right up until the last moment, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has warned.


Annecy, Munich and Pyeongchang are now all entering the final stages of lobbying before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes a decision at its Session in Durban on July 6.

Pyeongchang are considered to be the front runners ahead of Munich, whose chair Katarina Witt was recently shown around the London 2012 Olympic Park by Coe (pictured), with Annecy the outsiders.

"These are three extremely good bids," said Coe, who led London's successful bid when they upset the odds in 2005 by beating the favourites Paris.

"As you approach the final stages of a bid race, it is vitally important to be consistent in the message that you are trying to get across to the Olympic Movement.

"You need to know exactly what you should be saying and exactly how you should be saying so that you never lose that consistency.

"But the key is to keep going and keep lobbying until there really are no more minutes left."

All three cities have international relations teams working across the world to try to secure the support of IOC members.

"When you must lobby, it must be sensitive but you must be sure that you constantly reemphasise all the reasons why you should be staging an Olympic and Paralympic Games and you must do that until the very end," Coe told insidethegames

Coe is set to be in Durban for the IOC Session but admitted that he is not able to follow the bid race too closely due the fact that the London 2012 Games are now just over a year away.

"I am not following the 2018 race all that closely because I have a minor problem in trying to figure out how to organise an Olympic and Paralympic Games in London next year," Coe said.

"But I will be in Durban where I will be presenting to the Session and I am fully aware there three very, very good bids on the table who could all stage a spectacular event in 2018."

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