Willy Bogner to lead Munich's 2018 Winter Olympics bid

Fri, Nov 6 08:14 PM

Munich, Nov 6 (DPA) Fashion designer and filmmaker Willy Bogner will head Munich's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, the committee said Friday.

Bogner, 67, will be CEO of the bid committee from November 15 onwards as Munich tries to land the Games in the International Olympic Committee election in 2011. The other bidders are Pyeongchang (South Korea) and Annecy (France).

Bogner competed in alpine skiing at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. In 1960, he led the slalom after the first run but then crashed out.

He later inherited the Bogner clothes line from his father, worked as a cameraman in the skiing sequences of several James Bond movies and directed his own movie Fire and Ice.

'Getting the 2018 Olympic to Munich is the biggest Olympic race I am allowed to compete in,' said Bogner.

German Olympic supremo Thomas Bach said that 'Willy Bogner has a great international reputation.'

Managing director Richard Adam, meanwhile, said that Munich was close to signing another sponsor to finance the bid, which has an estimated total cost of 30 million euros.

'We have 14 million euros, and almost secured 3 million,' said Adam.

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