Will Zaragoza, Spain bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games?

There are unofficial initiatives and talks to present Zaragoza, the capital city of Aragon, as a candidate. Zaragoza played a significant role in Jaca’s failed bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, as Zaragoza, 142 km south of Jaca, was expected to host most of the ice events and the opening and closing ceremonies, in contradiction to the Olympic Charter. In an hypothetic Zaragoza bid, alpine events would still place take place around Jaca and other sites in the Aragonese Pyrenees, connected to the city by highways and high-speed trains.

The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, will be celebrated in 2018, and are an international winter sports athletic event that has yet to be organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The organization, under the leadership of Jacques Rogge, is currently preparing to mount calls for cities to bid for hosting the event. The deadline for bids is January 2009.