Organizers of the Salzburg 2014 Winter Olympics bid will be trying to avoid the word "favorites" this week when International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates carry out their technical inspection of the Austrian city.

The Salzburg bid has been widely viewed as the frontrunner almost since the day it was launched, but that label has seldom carried much significance in previous decisions by the IOC in its awarding of Games.

Among the most recent surprises was the awarding of the 2012 Summer Games to London when Paris had been seen as the favorite with a seemingly unassailable lead just hours before the vote.

The 2006 Winter Games vote that picked Turin was another shock with the Swiss town of Sion looking the likely winner going into the vote.

The Salzburg bidders, who face competition from Russia's Sochi and South Korea's Pyeongchang, are confident they can impress the 13-member evaluation commission, headed by Japanese IOC member Chiharu Igaya, when it begins its four-day tour of the proposed Olympic venues today.

The technical elements of the Salzburg bid are seen as particularly strong, especially since eight of the 11 competition venues already exist, many of them with a history of staging major winter sports events.

But the bid's leaders say they are well aware that technical excellence is only one element - albeit an important one - of what it takes to secure the Games.

"I would really distinguish between being technical favorites and being actual favorites in the overall mix of things that lead the IOC members to cast their votes," Salzburg executive director Gernot Leitner said.

"I think each of the three bids has its own individual story and individual 'something' that could make them the overall favorite. Certainly nobody on our team is thinking that the job is already done.

"We have around 40 people working on the bid right now, often until two o'clock every morning, so I would not say we are putting much emphasis on whether or not we are seen as favorites."

Salzburg is the final stop-off for the evaluation commission which has already completed inspections of Sochi, and Pyeongchang, east of Seoul.

Following its visit to Pyeongchang, the commission heaped praise on the bid's compact layout and its strong public support but said the South Korean bid could fall down on the lack of home nation success in many Olympic winter sports.

That will not be a problem for Russia, which has picked up 33 gold medals in the last four Winter Games.

The commission warned though that Sochi was facing much greater challenges, including a lack of existing venues, little experience in staging major sporting events and concerns over the environmental aspects of the bid.

Salzburg is emphasising the compact nature of its bid with organizers promising "the most compact Winter Games plan in the last three decades", with journeys of just 55 minutes between the furthest venues.

The evaluation commission is set to present its final report on June 4, with IOC members then determining the winner in a vote in Guatemala City a month later.

(China Daily via Agencies March 15, 2007)