A trio of European countries announced plans to lodge a regional 1998 Winter Olympics bid, joining Salt Lake City and four other international cities in the race, according to an international sports publication.
Austria, Yugoslavia and Italy - which share a common, mountainous border - will join together to bid for the Games as a single region, according to the German magazine Sport Intern in its latest edition.First, however, the three countries must persuade the International Olympic Committee, which governs the Games, to amend the Olympic Charter to permit the three countries to form a tri-lateral bid committee, the magazine said.
The region must formally place a bid with the IOC, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, by March 31. The Austrian Olympic Committee prepared a resolution for the IOC that would permit the three-country bid, Sport Intern said.
Skiing venues have been tentatively identified, according to the magazine. Yugoslavian resorts Planica and Kranjska Gora; Sella Revea and Tarvis in Italy and Austria's Bad Kleinkirchheim and Arnoldstein could host skiing events.