FILE - This is a Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 file photo of Edgar Grospiron, the then Chief Executive officer of the Annecy 2018 Bid Committee and former ski champion, presents the Annecy's 2018 winter Olympic bid during a press conference in Paris. Grospiron th
FILE - This is a Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 file photo of Edgar Grospiron, the then Chief Executive officer of the Annecy 2018 Bid Committee and former ski champion, presents the Annecy's 2018 winter Olympic bid during a press conference in Paris. Grospiron the former head of France's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics says he resigned because he wasn't given enough funds to compete with the two rival candidates in the final months of the campaign. In an interview Monday Dec. 13, 2010 with The Associated Press, Grospiron said he quit after the supervisory board approved a budget increase of only euro2 million ($2.6 million) for the bid from the Alpine town of Annecy. Laurent Cipriani, File, Associated Press
By Associated Press

LONDON — The former head of France's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics says he resigned because he wasn't given enough money to compete with the two rival candidates.

Edgar Grospiron tells The Associated Press on Monday that he quit after the supervisory board approved a budget increase of only $2.6 million for the bid from the Alpine town of Annecy.

He says "my mission is to win, but with the time we have left and with the budget we have, I can't."

Grospiron announced his departure Sunday after the board agreed to increase the budget to $26.4 million from $24 million. He had requested an increase to $37 million.

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Annecy is competing against Munich and Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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