Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A3

August 1, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Olympics

IOC vote closer than expected

Source: AP | August 1, 2015, Saturday | Print Edition

THROUGHOUT more than 120 years of Olympic history, no city has hosted both the Winter and Summer Games. Now, Beijing will be the first to do it — and in the span of just 14 years.

The Chinese capital was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics yesterday, beating Kazakh rival Almaty 44-40 in a surprisingly close vote marred by technical problems, taking the Games back to the city that hosted the summer version in 2008.

Beijing was seen by the International Olympic Committee as a secure, reliable choice that also offered vast commercial opportunities in a new winter sports market of more than 300 million people in northern China.

“It really is a safe choice. We know China will deliver on its promises,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter of appreciation to Bach last night, expressing thanks to the IOC for its trust and support in selecting Beijing.

“Today, Beijing together with Zhangjiakou has won the bid to host the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Let me extend, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, our appreciation to the IOC for its trust and strong support over the years,” Xi said in the letter.

“To present a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Winter Olympics is the aspiration of over 1.3 billion Chinese people,” Xi wrote.

“We will fulfill all our commitments and witness, together with the people of all other countries and the IOC, the advent of a new phase in the development of the Olympic winter sports and in the spread of the Olympic spirit,” the letter said.

“The Chinese government and people will implement in good faith the Olympic Agenda 2020, create a new record for the same city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and make new contribution to the advancement of the Olympic spirit,” it said.

Yesterday’s vote was conducted by paper ballot, after an electronic vote experienced technical faults. The result of the first vote was not disclosed. There was one abstention in the second.

Bach bristled when asked about the possibility of voting irregularities.

“This is an unfair question. You are taking a lot of assumptions. Obviously there was a technical issue with the voting system,” he said.

“If the scrutineers decide to be on the very safe side to have a new vote, to have this vote on a ballot paper, then this speaks for itself for a very fair election in everybody’s interest.”

Beijing came in to the vote as the strong favorite, despite its lack of natural snow.

Almaty had hoped to bring the Games to Central Asia for the first time, but was viewed as a riskier choice by IOC members. Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov made a last-minute impassioned plea for the IOC to be “brave” and give the Games to his country.

“Almaty is not a risky choice for 2022. In fact, we are quite the opposite,” he said.

“We are a golden opportunity to prove that smaller, advancing nations can successfully host the Winter Games.”

The tight margin caught most IOC members by surprise.

“You wouldn’t have picked that close result a few months ago,” IOC Vice president John Coates of Australia said.

“That address by the prime minister today was brilliantly crafted. I think that’s why it got close. But the size of China, the number of people that are going to be introduced to winter sport now, those were all factors.”

Yesterday’s result means the Olympics will be held three times in a row in east Asia: the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and 2022 in Beijing.

“With the real globalization of the world, the growing importance of Asia, not only in sports but also in all areas of life, I think it is more or less normal that we have more Olympic Games taking place in Asia,” Bach said.

Beijing and Almaty were considered longshots when the 2022 bid race opened in 2013, but they were the only two candidates left after four European cities pulled out.

Almaty bid Vice Chairman Andrey Kryukov said the city would consider bidding again.

“One thing I can say is Almaty was ready to host the 2022 Winter Games,” he said.

Beijing plans to use several venues from the 2008 Olympics, including the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, but the snow and sliding events will be at venues in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, 60 and 140 kilometers outside Beijing. A planned high-speed rail line to Zhangjiakou will cut travel time to 50 minutes.

Olympics



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend