IOC Shortlists Three Cities to Host 2022 Winter Olympics

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has shortlisted Almaty in Kazakhstan, pill Beijing in China and Oslo in Norway for the 2022 Winter Olympics, allergy it was revealed today at an Executive Board meeting.

The Olympic governing body decided not to eliminate any of the cities while also releasing a preliminary evaluation report that assessed each city’s capabilities to host the Games.

Each city was encouraged to produce a bid best suited to their own unique circumstances, order with plans that reflect their own specific vision for how the Games can benefit their cities and regions and ensure positive, sustainable legacies for their populations.

“The Executive Board was impressed by the legacy plans of each of the three cities, and will continue to support any future candidate or host city in developing them further,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “This support will be practical, involving the detailed transfer of knowledge as well as financial. In this respect it was good to see that each of the bidding cities understood the difference between the Olympic Games budget and the long-term infrastructure and investment budget, which will benefit their communities for decades to come,” he added.

“The Executive Board is confident that the future hosts of the Olympic Winter Games can break even with the Olympic Games budget – as Vancouver has just announced for the Olympic Winter Games 2010. Or, as in the case of Sochi, make a considerable profit, which they project to be in the range of 200 million dollars,” said President Bach. “This is possible not least because of the extensive financial assistance given by the IOC. In the case of Sochi, this amounted to USD 750 million and it is likely that figure will be even higher for the host of the Olympic Winter Games 2022,” he added.

Recently bids from Lviv, Ukraine, Krakow, Poland and Stockholm in Sweden were withdrawn after lack of investment, political crisis and a lack of support.

Shortlisted bids have until January to submit completed application files to the IOC then the Evaluation Commission will visit the cities in February and March.  A new evaluation report will be published May 10 and the bids will make critical presentations to the IOC membership in Lausanne.

IOC will make their final vote in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015.

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