Beijing has been awarded the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

           

Beijing defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a vote by the IOC today, making it the first city to be awarded both the Winter and Summer Games.  Beijing and Almaty were the only two cities in the running after 4 European cities including Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden, had pulled out for political or financial reasons.  Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, came in as the favourite despite a lack of natural snow and winter conditions, because the IOC considered it the reliable and safe choice.  Almaty had hoped to bring the games to Central Asia for the first time and raise Kazakhstan’s profile on the international stage.