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IOC Picks Beijing Over Almaty To Host 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Beijing "is to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics -- despite having little natural snow -- and will become the first city to host both the summer and winter games," according to Moore & Shepherd of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The IOC voted 44:40 in favor "of the Chinese capital over its rival, Almaty in Kazakhstan." The IOC was left with an unappetizing choice after cities such as Oslo pulled out, criticizing the heavy burden of hosting the Games. Both Beijing and Almaty have been criticized "by human rights and environmental campaigners." Beijing "is set to stage many events at Zhangjiakou, 120 miles away, with athletes and spectators ferried out by a high-speed rail link, to be built for the games." As Beijing persuaded the IOC that it was the safe choice for a Games, despite its pollution and climate, a bid spokesperson said, "China is a country that delivers on every promise it makes." One person in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the vote said, "I don’t think many IOC members wanted to risk upsetting China" (FT, 7/31). The BBC reported the IOC said that Beijing was awarded the Games because it fitted its new agenda for a "stronger focus on sustainability, legacy, and transparency." Despite the IOC estimating costs for "Olympic villages, sports venues and other infrastructure" would be £962M ($1.5B), it said Beijing "will rely heavily on existing venues, including those built for the Games in 2008" (BBC, 7/31). In D.C., Rauhala & Birnbaum wrote Beijing’s win "earned swift praise from Chinese officials and the state-backed media." The social media account of the People’s Daily, a state-controlled newspaper, stated, "We win! Beijing wins 2022 Winter Olympic bid!" In a piece titled "The glory belongs to China," the Xinhua News Agency asked Chinese to always "remember July 31, 2015, another glorious moment in Chinese history." Yet "the mood in Beijing was not quite jubilant." In '01, when Beijing won its first bid, "tens of thousands of people flocked to Tiananmen Square to celebrate." This time "it was a quieter affair." Beijing "marked the occasion with a tightly choreographed event outside the Bird’s Nest stadium" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/31).

'NO SNOW': BUSINESS INSIDER's Tony Manfred wrote the bidding for the 2022 Games "was a profound disappointment for the IOC." Every potential host city with a democratically elected government "dropped out nearly a year before the final vote." The IOC "outlined several problems with a Beijing Winter Olympics." The "most obvious: There's no snow." Mountain events "will be split between two different clusters," Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. The average snow depth in Yanqing is 5cm, "with a minimum depth" of 1cm. The IOC "included two photos of what the Yanqing Mountain looks like for its bid evaluation" (BUSINESS INSIDER, 7/31). In N.Y., Juliet Macur opined it is a "sad day" when the IOC "cannot even clear one of the lowest bars for choosing the host city for the Winter Games: snow." The IOC on Friday still went ahead and chose Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Games, even though an IOC evaluation report published in June said that the mountains in those Olympic plans have "minimal annual snowfall" and the Games would "rely completely on artificial snow." The most obvious consequence of Friday’s IOC vote -- eliminating the annoying hurdle that the Winter Games host actually has natural snow -- "is that it has created a precedent for holding a Winter Games almost anywhere." Imagine "the possibilities." I will give Beijing this: "Its 2008 Olympics were a marketing coup for the companies eager to court China’s 1.3 billion residents." Now "how about 2022?" There "is even more to be made, considering the huge commercial upside" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/31). The BBC's James Gheerbrant wrote the IOC said the Chinese capital beat Almaty thanks to its "focus on sustainability, legacy and transparency." But human rights groups have described the decision as "a slap in the face." And "others have a more prosaic concern: the lack of snow in Beijing." While the IOC praised Beijing's bid, "others were not so enthused." The N.Y. Times said "serious problems" were posed by the selection of Beijing. The Economist "pointed out China's lack of tradition in skiing, the Winter Games' blue-riband event." British skeleton Gold medalist Lizzy Yarnold said, "Beijing is a relatively warm place, and with the snow sports artificial snow does make a huge difference -- it impacts the speed and they need to take that into consideration when designing the venues" (BBC, 8/1).

LEAP OF JOY: In London, Tom Phillips wrote Chinese officials and athletes "leapt into the air and broke down on national television." Chinese speed skater and Olympic Medalist Wang Beixing said, "I am so excited. My tears cannot hold in there." There "was a muted reaction in Beijing itself but residents of Zhangjiakou -- a city around 125 miles from Beijing that will co-host the Games -- danced in the streets." Zheng Xiaolong, 27, who works in the tourism industry, said, "We are all very happy. The whole county is going wild with joy." Susan Brownell, an expert in Chinese sports who has been traveling to the country since the '80s, said that "the dearth of snow around Beijing was not an insurmountable problem for the cash-flush Communist party." Brownell: "You do have to laugh a little bit at the concept of a winter Games in a place that doesn’t get snow but I think they have the technology, the money and the manpower. They will solve it." Chinese Olympic Committee President Liu Peng said, "Ski resorts have been operating in Zhangjiakou for decades" (GUARDIAN, 7/31).

PARTY TIME: REUTERS' Ben Blanchard wrote Chinese state-run media "lauded the decision" and said the city could handle any problem thrown at it and would aim to put on a "big party." The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said that "the world could breathe easy over any worries it might have about Beijing's ability to hold the large-scale event." The paper wrote in a front page commentary, "In China, every promise will be fully realized." The Global Times, "a popular and influential tabloid published by the People's Daily," said that "people who opposed the Games in China are not a part of mainstream society." It added, "Some of them are just following the voices of popular Western-style opponents. Others have their marginal reasons. But these opinions are not mainstream in China" (REUTERS, 7/31). REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann wrote the choice of Beijing "was a solid vote for the tried and tested." IOC VP Craig Reedie said, "I think the IOC chose certainty in this vote. We know how the Chinese work. There is a familiarity" (REUTERS, 7/31).

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