Beijing launches bid for 2022 Winter Olympics
Beijing leaders on Tuesday handed over their official bid to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics to the Swiss-based IOC, heightening their battle with Kazakhstan's Almaty.
The event is guaranteed to be staged in Asia as Beijing and Almaty are the only candidates.
The Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make a final decision in July.
Liu Peng, chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Wang Anshun, chairman of the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee, presented the Chinese capital's financial and construction guarantees for the event at the IOC headquarters.
They made no immediate comment.
Almaty's sporting and bid leaders were to give their official guarantees to IOC officials later Tuesday.
Although China would stage some of the skiing events up to 220 kilometres from Beijing, the Chinese bid is considered the favourite because of the country's political clout within the Olympic movement.
Many of the officials who organized the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing have been drafted into the team fighting for the Winter Games.
Almaty has been seen from suffering from a lack of support from its strongman president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
But the government now appears behind the project.
Almaty was also a candidate for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which went to Russia's Sochi.
It staged the 2011 Asian Winter Games and has been chosen for the 2017 University Winter Games.
The European cities of Oslo, Stockholm, Krakow in Poland and Lviv in Ukraine all backed out of the contest because of public fears over the cost.
An IOC evaluation committee will go to Almaty on February 14th-18th and to Beijing from March 24th-28th.
The two cities will make presentations to the IOC in Lausanne in June and the IOC executive committee will decide the winner at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 31st.
Comments
See Also
The event is guaranteed to be staged in Asia as Beijing and Almaty are the only candidates.
The Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make a final decision in July.
Liu Peng, chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Wang Anshun, chairman of the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee, presented the Chinese capital's financial and construction guarantees for the event at the IOC headquarters.
They made no immediate comment.
Almaty's sporting and bid leaders were to give their official guarantees to IOC officials later Tuesday.
Although China would stage some of the skiing events up to 220 kilometres from Beijing, the Chinese bid is considered the favourite because of the country's political clout within the Olympic movement.
Many of the officials who organized the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing have been drafted into the team fighting for the Winter Games.
Almaty has been seen from suffering from a lack of support from its strongman president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
But the government now appears behind the project.
Almaty was also a candidate for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which went to Russia's Sochi.
It staged the 2011 Asian Winter Games and has been chosen for the 2017 University Winter Games.
The European cities of Oslo, Stockholm, Krakow in Poland and Lviv in Ukraine all backed out of the contest because of public fears over the cost.
An IOC evaluation committee will go to Almaty on February 14th-18th and to Beijing from March 24th-28th.
The two cities will make presentations to the IOC in Lausanne in June and the IOC executive committee will decide the winner at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 31st.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.