Beijing wins bid to host 2022 Winter Olympics

Beijing won a narrow victory over its rival bidder city of Almaty in the vote on Friday to become the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced the voting results at the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after both candidate cities gave an emphatic assurance of environmental protection and economic goals.

Having staged the Summer Olympics in 2008, the Chinese capital will be the first city ever to host both editions of the Games. It beat Kazakhstan’s Almaty 44-40 in a secret ballot of IOC members.

The decision was met with elation in China, where it is seen as a vote of international support for the nation’s efforts to promote winter sports and maintain sustainable economic development.

The three major complexes for the 2022 Games will be located in downtown Beijing, the suburban Yanqing County in the city’s northwest, as well as Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province.

Five out of the six venues proposed in the Beijing downtown area are already in place, including the iconic Beijing National Stadium (nicknamed “Bird’s Nest”) and the National Aquatics Center (also known as the “Water Cube”). These venues will host all the ice events.

The only new facility in the downtown area will be the National Speed Skating Oval, a permanent venue for speed-skating competitions.

Snow sports will take place at the National Alpine Ski Center and the National Sliding Center, both of which are still under planning in the mountainous regions of Yanqing and will be developed into high-level training bases and tourism centers after the Games.

The rest of the snow events will be held at the new Nordic and Biathlon Center as well as the refurbished Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, around 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing.

The three complexes will be connected by new expressways and an intercity high-speed railway. It will take less than an hour to commute between any two venues.