LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Three cities in the race to host the 2018 Winter Olympics met the deadline on Monday for submitting their preliminary bid files.
The International Olympic Committee said it received completed questionnaires from Annecy, France; Munich; and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The so-called bid book "provides the IOC with an overview of each applicant city's project and is the key element in the first phase of the procedure leading to the election of the host city," the IOC said in a statement.
A working group will now prepare a report for the 15-member IOC executive board. The board, led by IOC president Jacques Rogge, meets June 21-23 in Lausanne to confirm the official candidates.
The full IOC assembly will choose the 2018 host by secret ballot at its session in Durban, South Africa, on July 6, 2011.
Pyeongchang is bidding for the third straight time after narrow defeats to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics and Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Winter Games.
The bid is based around the Alpensia ski resort in what officials claim would be the "most compact games in history."
South Korea has never staged the Winter Games, which have been held twice in Asia and both times in Japan: Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.
Annecy is aiming to bring the Winter Olympics to France for the fourth time, and a third time in the Savoy Alps region following Chamonix in 1924 and Albertville in 1992.
Bid leaders propose using eight ski resorts around Mont Blanc, including Chamonix, Megeve, and Morzine. All are within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of Annecy.
Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics and is trying to become the first to city to stage both summer and winter games. The ice events would be held in Munich and snow competitions about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which hosted the games in 1936.
If accepted as candidates, the cities must give the IOC detailed bid books and guarantees by Jan. 11, 2011.
An IOC evaluation commission is scheduled to visit the candidates next February and March and submit a report to the 100-plus IOC voting members.