Oslo, Lillehammer propose joint bid for 2018 Olympic Winter Games

Oslo, Lillehammer propose joint bid for 2018 Olympic Winter Games{mosimage}The Norwegian cities of Oslo and Lillehammer — both former Olympic host cities — are proposing a joint bid for the 2018 Winter Games.

Oslo staged the Winter Olympics in 1952, while Lillehammer hosted the games in 1994.

”I think this is a very good solution,” Synnoeve Brenden Klemetrud, one of the Lillehammer organizers, said. ”These are two former Olympic cities with a winter sports tradition.”

Norway’s national Olympic committee will decide next year which city to submit as its 2018 candidate. The Arctic city of Tromsoe and the western coastal city of Trondheim are also in the running.

Denver, Colorado, has thrown its hat in the ring for consideration as the U.S. candidate for the 2018 Games. The United States Olympic Committee will ultimately choose the final U.S. contender.

The International Olympic Committee will choose the host city in 2011.

— The Associated Press