体坛英语新闻：IOC to Vote on 2018 Winter Olympics Host

The International Olympic Committee will take a vote on Wednesday in Durban, South Africa to decide the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The three cities in the running are Munich, Germany; Annecy, France; and Pyeongchang, South Korea.

This is the Korean resort city's third successive bid after close defeats for the 2010 Games to Vancouver, Canada and 2014 Winter Games to Sochi, Russia.  Munich is trying to become the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

The IOC will pick the winning city for 2018 in a secret ballot, and the widespread view is that it will be a two-way race between Munich and Pyeongchang.

Pyeongchang is about 180 kilometers east of Seoul and has emphasized that its hosting of the Olympics will help promote winter sports in Asia.  Japan is the only Asian nation to have hosted the Winter Games, with Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.

On hand in Durban to help boost Pyeongchang's bid is reigning women's Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na.