The 2018 Winter Olympics host is Pyeongchang.

The International Olympic Committee made the announcement that awarded the Games to the South Korean city this morning (EDT).

Yes, you can describe me as surprised.

My surprise comes because of the corruption scandal that was reported by the New York Times (and other news agencies) late last year. At that time I suggested that the IOC wouldn't want to place the Games in any location where corruption had been publicly identified.

So much for that.

Of course representatives from the two candidate cities that didn't get the 2018 Games -- Munich, Germany and Annecy, France are disappointed. And perhaps the IOC's snub of the French yet again must sting quite bitterly throughout France.

Paris appeared to be the favorite to host the 2012 Summer Games, only to see London swoop in at almost the last minute and secure those Games. French cities also unsuccessfully bid for the 1992, 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Now one can add Annecy to that list.

Granted, France has hosted the Olympics on five different occasions, but three of those five occurred in either 1900 or 1924. (Canada, the United States, Italy and Japan are among the nations that have hosted at least three Olympics since 1956.)

There were at least two factors weighing in South Korea's favor. First, it had sought to host the 2010 and 2014 Winter Games; obviously those were awarded to other cities (and Pyeongchang finished second in the voting for the 2014 Games). Second, the geographic rotation that is defining the Games under the leadership of IOC president Jacques Rogge suggested that an Asian site would be chosen for 2018.

At some point in the future, the Olympics will return to France. But that some day needs to be soon.