Pyeongchang Selected As Host City For 2018 Winter Olympics

The San Francisco Chronicle indicates that the 2018 Winter Olympics, which were awarded to Pyeongchang, South Korea on Wednesday morning, will bring nearly $20 billion to South Korea.

Pyeongchang beat out Munich, Germany and Annecy, France to be awarded the games. The Olympics will affect the Korean economy profoundly - already, stocks in construction and cement companies have risen in value, as have those of design companies and resorts, the Chronicle reports. This is, obviously, no surprise, and we’ll have to see about the long-term effects on the Korean economy, but early returns are positive.

The members of the International Olympic Committee have finished selecting a host for the 2018 Winter Olympics, choosing the winners in just one round of voting. A press conference to announce the winning bid is expected to come at 11 am ET. Some seem to think that the very fast vote is a good omen for the bid from Pyeongchang, South Korea, which has bid unsuccessfully for the Winter Olympics in both 2010 and 2014.

Annecy, France and Munich, Germany were the other two bids that made it to the final round of voting, which took place in Durban, South Africa. The Winter Olympics have only taken place in Asia twice, and the voting in the selections for the last two sets of Olympics indicates that the IOC is not only willing to take the games to new places, but actively looking to do so. Russia and Brazil were both selected to host the Olympics for the first time in 2014 and 2016, respectably.

The city that wins the 2018 Winter Olympics will be announced at 10:00 Eastern Wednesday morning, and the announcement will be streamed online here. The three competing cities are Munich, Germany; Annecy, France; and Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The three cities gave presentations to the International Olympic Committee early Wednesday morning, and at 8:35 AM Eastern, the committee will vote on the winner.

The International Olympic Committee will announce the winner of the 2018 Winter Olympics Wednesday morning in Durbin, South Africa. The final three locations competing for the bid are Munich, Germany; Annecy, Frace; and PyeongChang, South Korea. The winning city will be announced at 11 a.m. EST and will be streamed live online at the Olympic Commission’s homepage.

The proceedings begin at 8:30 a.m. CET/2:30 a.m. EST with the IOC President’s opening remarks and opening of the 123rd IOC Session. Immediately afterwards, the official presentations will commence.

The International Olympic Committee will vote to decide the location of the 2018 Winter Olympics on Wednesday, July 6th. The selection bid has been narrowed down to three distinctive cities -- Munich, Germany; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and Annecy, France.

The Munich pitch has centered around the slogan “Festival of Friendship.” Should the southern German city win the bid, it would become the first location to host both the Summer and Winter Games, having hosted the infamous 1972 Munich Summer Olympics in which 11 Israeli competitors were murdered. An IOC conducted poll concluded that just 56 percent of the nation supported the bid, the lowest total of the three cities.