Although the deadline for bids passed on Thursday, the IOC has so far made no confirmation of the final bidders.

Of the eight likely bidding countries, four of them are from countries that have a limited facilities and a brief history in offering skiing. The candidates are believed to include the unknown Borjomi area of Georgia, the Kazakhstan capital of AlmaAti, PyeongChang in South Korea and Sochi in Russia. More well known areas include Salzburg in Austria , Sofia in Bulgaria, Jaca in Spain and Osterburg in Sweden.

Both Bulgaria and Korea have seen huge investment in winter sports facilities in recent seasons. Korea got to the final round of voting in the 2010 race, eventually won by Whistler and there has been intense competition between the main ski regions of the country over which gets to bid.

Georgia and Russia both have plans for huge investments in the relevant resorts, but in the case of Russia at least, there has been little actual amount of construction to date. Georgia has the money, the terrain and probably the political will, but has almost no existing winter sports infrastructure.

Kazakhstan has a more substantial winter sports pedigree than might be expected with its Medeu ice rink known as “the factory of records” back in the days of Soviet might. The local Olympic committee are also touting the Chimbulakh mountains for Alpine events. However, their recent record on human rights is likely to restrict their chances.

Jaca’s bid only materialized after a last minute emergency meeting. The ski area has unsuccessfully bid for virtually every winter Olympics in recent memory.

With the coming Olympics in Europe, the next in North America, it would appear Asia or possibly eastern Europe have the advantage in terms of ‘taking turns’ in the 2014 bidding process.

The winning bid will be announced on 07 July 2007.