French IOC members Jean-Claude Killy and Guy Drut say Annecy is lagging behind its rivals in the race to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Drut, who was Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion at Montreal in 1976, was quoted in Sunday's L'Equipe newspaper as saying that Annecy organizers started their campaign too late and have failed to convince IOC members that their revamped plans will create a focused concept around centrally located venues.
''We started from too far back,'' Drut said. ''This project moves away from the point and despite all the efforts that have been made to concentrate the venues, we failed to change our image in the eyes of IOC members.''
After the IOC criticized the bid's spread-out venues in June, Annecy officials changed their plans and are now offering a project centered around Annecy and Chamonix.
Annecy is competing against Munich and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The candidates must submit their detailed bid files by Jan. 11. The IOC will select the 2018 host city in Durban, South Africa, on July 6, 2011.
Edgar Grospiron, the former Olympic moguls champion who leads the Annecy bid, later said in a statement that Drut and Killy had confirmed their support.
Christian Monteil, the chairman of the Annecy 2018 supervisory board, said Annecy will soon hire consultants to help Grospiron promote the project.
''We are not strong enough in the international promotion of the bid,'' Monteil told The Associated Press in a phone interview. ''We realized this about a month ago and we are going to find the people capable of giving Edgar a hand. He can't do everything alone.''
Monteil added that the supervisory board will have a meeting next week, with Killy and Drut expected to take part in discussions.
''I spoke with them (after L'Equipe ran its story) and Guy expressed his support of the bid,'' he said. ''Killy's statements were not as strong. But it is true that they think we need to improve our communication.''
Killy was quoted as saying that Grospiron is ''an amazing guy who is giving everything he has got,'' but added that other Annecy officials are not aware of the IOC's requirements.
''We are heading for a fall,'' Killy said. ''Drastic measures are required.''
The triple Alpine skiing gold medalist from 1968 heads the IOC coordination commission monitoring preparations for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Annecy is making its first Olympic bid, although France has staged the Winter Games three times - in Chamonix 1924, Grenoble 1968 and Albertville 1992.
