At the closing date of the receipt of applications to host 2006 Winter Olympics (formally known as XX Olympic Winter Games) on February 1, 1998, six cities had formally presented their candidatures to the IOC. The deadline for the receipt of candidature files was set at September 1, 1998. The Evaluation Commission proceeded with its visits to the six candidate cities in October and November 1998.[1]
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| XX Olympic Winter Games IX Paralympic Winter Games | |
 | |
| Winner: Turin Runner-up: Sion, Switzerland Shortlist: Helsinki · Klagenfurt · Poprad-Tatry · Zakopane | |
| Details | |
| Committee | IOC |
| Election venue | Seoul 109th IOC Session |
| Map | |
 Location of the bidding cities | |
| Important dates | |
| Shortlist | June 19, 1999 |
| Decision | June 19, 1999 |
| Decision | |
| Winner | Turin (53 votes) |
| Runner-up | Sion, Switzerland (36 votes) |
In the wake of the 2002 bidding controversy, a new bidding procedure was instituted in 1999 to elect the 2006 Winter Olympics host city. After the six candidates cities made their final presentations before the members of the International Olympic Committee, during its 108th Session in Seoul, a new body called "Selection College" was tasked with selecting two "finalist cities" that would be subjected to the members' voting, in order to determine the host city.[2][3]
Turin's bid ended up defeating Sion by 53 votes to 36. The other four non-shortlisted candidate cities that made presentations to the IOC were Helsinki, Klagenfurt, Poprad-Tatry and Zakopane.
The selection of Turin over Sion came as a surprise, since Sion was the overwhelming favorite in part because the IOC is based in Switzerland.[4][5]
Final selection
| 2006 Host City Election – ballot results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country (NOC) | Round 1 | |||
| Turin |  Italy | 53 | |||
| Sion |  Switzerland | 36 | |||
| Helsinki |  Finland | — | |||
| Klagenfurt |  Austria | — | |||
| Poprad-Tatry |  Slovakia | — | |||
| Zakopane |  Poland | — | |||
Bidding cities
| City | Country | National Olympic Committee | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helsinki | Finland | Finnish Olympic Committee | |||
| Klagenfurt | Austria | Austrian Olympic Committee | |||
| Poprad | Slovakia | Slovak Olympic Committee | |||
| Sion | Switzerland | Swiss Olympic Association | |||
| Turin | Italy | Italian Olympic Committee | |||
| Zakopane | Poland | Polish Olympic Committee | |||