Stories Related to Beijing Selected To Host 2022 Winter Olympics

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Beijing was selected Friday to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city awarded both the winter and summer games. Beijing defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a vote of the International Olympic Committee. The voting numbers were not immediately released. The Chinese capital, which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, came in to the vote as the strong favorite, despite its lack of natural snow and winter conditions. Beijing was seen by the IOC as a safe, reliable choice that also offered vast commercial opportunities in a new winter sports market of more than 300 million people in northern China. Almaty had hoped to bring the games to Central Asia for the first time, but was a lesser-known quantity and viewed as a riskier choice by IOC members.