Munich to bid for 2018 Winter Olympics

BERLIN (Reuters) - Munich will bid to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics after winning approval from Germany's Olympic Committee (DOSB) on Saturday.

Munich, capital of Bavaria in southern Germany, hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, which were overshadowed by tragedy when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and one policeman were killed by Palestinian guerrillas.

A successful bid would see Munich become the first city to host the Summer and Winter Olympics.

Under a "Munich plus two" concept, it would also see the Winter Games come back to the nearby town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which hosted them in 1936.

The Munich plan would see Garmisch-Partenkirchen stage the skiing, while the bobsleigh and luge would go to the town of Schoenau am Koenigssee.

Germany has staged a total of three Olympics, the other being the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

The next Winter Games are being held in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).

(Writing by Kevin Fylan, editing by Trevor Huggins)