The IOC exec board unanimously agreed on Monday that Oslo (Norway), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China) would progress from the applicant city phase to the candidate city phase in the bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
The exec board based its decision on a technical analysis of the applicant cities’ applications submitted earlier this year. The analysis and subsequent report were made by an IOC-appointed working group of Olympic Games experts. Each city was encouraged to produce a bid best suited to their own unique circumstances, with plans that reflect their own specific vision for how the Games can benefit their cities and regions.
- Oslo is focusing its bid on youth and building on the legacy of the 1994 Lillehammer Games. It hopes to inspire the population to embrace a healthier and more active lifestyle.
- Almaty’s legacy plans center on providing the conditions to enable the city to become a sports, tourism and convention hub in Central Asia.
- Beijing is seeking to provide an extended legacy for venues built for the 2008 Olympic Games. It wants to create a winter sports center for China and use the Winter Games to act as a catalyst for the further development of the tourism and winter sports industry (IOC).
UP NEXT: The AP reported the cities "must submit their detailed bid files to the IOC by next January." The host city "will then be selected by the full IOC membership in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 31, 2015." The bid race "began with six cities, but has been cut in half by the withdrawals of Stockholm; Krakow, Poland; and Lviv, Ukraine."
Lviv "dropped out a week ago amid the continuing political turmoil in Ukraine." Krakow "pulled out in May after Polish voters rejected the bid by a 70 percent margin." Stockholm "withdrew in January after Swedish politicians refused to give the bid financial backing" (
AP, 7/7).
