Dmitry Chernyshenko wants Sochi to follow the example of Beijing in hosting both winter and summer games.
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While Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games to wide acclaim, its bid for the lower profile Winter Games had been dogged by concerns over a number of issues including the city’s notorious smog problem, a lack of snow and its poor human rights record.
In a press release, the IOC said: “Beijing aims to use the Games to accelerate the development of a new sport, culture and tourism area, and to encourage interest in winter sports in a region that is home to more than 300 million people in northern China”.
APPHOTO XMAS108: A participant poses for a photo as he celebrates with others following the announcement that Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics at a gathering outside the Beijing Olympic Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest, in Beijing, Friday, July 31, 2015.
Speaking on Thursday evening, IOC president Thomas Bach said the committee had been speaking to a wide range of groups, including Human Rights Watch, but that outside the context of the Games, the IOC had to respect the laws of sovereign states. “We know China will deliver on its promises”.
Bach bristled when asked at a news conference about the possibility of any voting irregularities.
“This is a pretty unfair question”, the IOC President maintained. You are taking a lot of assumptions…. Voting by paper was done after it was found out that the electronic system malfunctioned. Almaty is surrounded by towering mountains and plenty of natural snow, but Beijing bid leaders insisted they have sufficient water supplies and snow-making equipment for ideal skiing conditions.
The high-powered Chinese delegation assured IOC members that Beijing was the safe choice because it had already proved it could stage the Games, adding that it would take winter sports into the backyard of the world’s most populous country.
Like many others in Almaty, Murat refused to give his surname because he works in a government job. In fact, we are quite the opposite…. The South Korean city of Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Olympics, and in 2020, the Summer Olympics will be held in the Japanese capital Tokyo.
The result surprised many IOC members. That address by the prime minister today was brilliantly crafted. “That’s why I don’t think so”. “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.”To present a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Winter Olympics is the aspiration of over 1.3 billion Chinese people”.
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Left with a choice between bad and bad on the human rights front, with two authoritarian countries as the only bidders, the worldwide Olympic Committee made the safe pick of Beijing over Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a surprisingly close 44-40 vote Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
