Be careful what you wish for

Jeré Longman has an article in The New York Times about three countries, Germany, France, and South Korea, all striving to get the 2018 Winter Olympic Games:

The host city for the 2018 Games will be chosen this week by the International Olympic Committee among candidates from South Korea, Germany, and France.
Pyeongchang, South Korea, is considered by many to be the favorite, largely because it finished second to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the 2010 Olympics and to Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Games. Munich is seeking to become the first city to host the Winter and the Summer Games, and Annecy, France, is attempting to overcome organizational problems and budget concerns.
Pyeongchang is seeking to become the third Asian city to host the Winter Games, after two Japanese cities: Sapporo in 1968 and Nagano in 1998. It may benefit because the 2014 Sochi Games will be held in Europe, which could prompt Olympic delegates to prefer a shift to a different continent.
The IOC commission that evaluated the three bids seemed struck by Pyeongchang’s ambition to boost the winter sports market in Asia. Placing the Games in South Korea “would be significant to further develop winter sports in Asia,” the commission said in its report.
The vote will be taken at a meeting of the IOC’s general assembly in Durban, South Africa. The winning bid will require a majority vote from the ninety-plus IOC delegates expected to cast ballots. If no majority is achieved in the first round, the city receiving the fewest votes will be eliminated and a second round of voting will take place.
Pyeongchang may also have gained an advantage with the compactness of its proposal, with all competition sites to be within thirty minutes of the city, which is about one hundred miles east of Seoul. The South Korean bid also has the largest budget of the three candidate cities, and widespread public support. South Korea has shown that it can host international sporting events with the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul and the 2002 World Cup, which it shared with Japan. And its president, Lee Myung-bak, has traveled to Durban to pitch the Pyeongchang bid, telling reporters: “I consider this as a duty, a mission, to deliver the Games for Asia.”
Of course, being the favorite does not mean Pyeongchang will win. Paris and Chicago were considered the leading candidates to host recent Summer Games, but their bids failed.
Munich also has a strong bid for 2018, headed by Katarina Witt, who won two gold medals as a figure skater for East Germany. The soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer is also in Durban to boost Munich’s bid. In Germany’s favor is a long history of hosting winter sports events. Also, German companies make up about fifty percent of the corporate sponsorship for the international governing bodies of the Olympic winter sports.
The Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics, would be incorporated into Munich’s 2018 bid. Most recently, it was the site of the world Alpine skiing championships in February. Germany capably hosted the 2006 men’s soccer World Cup and is currently hosting the Women’s World Cup.
Holding the Olympics in Munich, with a population of 1.4 million, would also continue the recent IOC trend of anchoring the Winter Games in urban areas. But public support is not overwhelming. And it remains to be seen whether Munich, nearly four decades later, can secure enough votes to overcome the memory of the 1972 Summer Games, when eleven members of the Israeli team were killed there by Palestinian militants.
Annecy, in southeastern France, would have the Alps as a breathtaking backdrop for the 2018 Games. France has the most experience among the three bid countries in hosting the Winter Games, which have been held there at Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992. Chamonix would be used again for Alpine events if Annecy hosts the 2018 Games. The bobsled and luge track in La Plagne, used at the 1992 Winter Games, would also be redeployed. And a thorough transportation system exists. Annecy has said its bid would be the most authentic for a Winter Games.
The IOC has expressed concern, however, about logistical problems that could be created by having athletes spread out at four Olympic villages, and by long travel times for spectators and sponsors. Public support is also underwhelming. Annecy has attempted to play catch-up after its bid chief quit last year, complaining of budget limitations. It is taking hope from the surprise victory that Lillehammer, Norway, won to host the 1994 Games, which became wildly popular and were widely considered a success. “There is no big favorite or underdog,” Annecy’s new bid leader, Charles Beigbeder, told reporters in Durban. “It’s a three-horse race.”

Rico says that, given how well things turned out there in 1936 and 1972, he can't imagine why Munich shouldn't get the bid... (But, in the proverbial late-breaking-news, it seems that Pyeongchang got it.)