Alpine skiing events, luge, and bobsled events will be held in the Lillehammer area if the joint games take place.

The Oslo City Council has approved the capital's bid to try and stage the games. Now the two previous hosts of the Winter Olympics in Norway will combine their effort in order to improve the chances of a successful bid.

The northern city of Tromsø is also in the process of trying to stage the 2018 games.

Oslo organized the games in 1952, while Lillehammer's 1994 hosting moved then International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch to call them "The best games ever".

Tromsø mayor Herman Kristoffersen took the news of rival cooperation in stride.

"We don't get angry here in northern Norway," Kristoffersen said. "We have a completely different concept. Their bid means Olympics for all of eastern Norway. Here it will be staged within a ten-kilometer radius and you will be able to walk between the facilities."

"Next they'll be taking Trondheim into the bid," Kristoffersen said.