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klammer bid

With the International Olympic Committee in the middle of revising its Olympic bidding process, some of the cities bidding for the 2006 Winter Games are crying foul.

With the International Olympic Committee in the middle of revising its Olympic bidding process, some of the cities bidding for the 2006 Winter Games are crying foul. Klagenfurt, Austria is one of six cities bidding for the 2006 Winter Olympics, along with Helsinki, Finland; Zakopane, Poland; Popred-Tatry, Slovakia and the two favourites, Turin, Italy and Sion, Switzerland. Klagenfurt was expecting to take IOC delegates on a tour of their facilities in February, when the IOC changed the bidding rules and announced there would be no opportunity to wine and dine officials. The change came as a result of the bidding scandal with the Salt Lake City Games and subsequent efforts to clean up the bidding process. The problem is, Sion has made two previous bids for the Olympics, so Olympic officials have toured the Swiss facilities twice. They won’t get an opportunity to even look at the facilities of the other five cities. Austrian legend Franz Klammer, the 1976 Olympic gold medalist in downhill, told the Associated Press, "The mountain is not level." Next week the IOC will reduce the six bidding cities to two, following presentations in Seoul. Each city will have one hour to make its final presentation to the IOC. Klammer leads the Klagenfurt team. "The change is a disadvantage," Klammer told AP. "The visit would have helped. We have a lot to show... Now we are working on the final presentation. This gives us a new challenge." The Klagenfurt bid is actually international, including sites in Slovenia and Italy.