IOC won’t reopen 2022 Winter Olympic bid race
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said that the committee will not reopen the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
There are just two cities, Beijing, China and Almaty, Kazakhstan, left in the race after Oslo, Norway dropped out of consideration, citing financial concerns. Three other cities dropped out of consideration earlier this year.
"The IOC is sticking to its commitments," Boch told the Associated Press. "We have issued the invitation for bidding. There is a clear and transparent procedure. We will follow this procedure with two candidates."
Beijing is seeking to become the first city to host both summer and winter games, after hosting the 2008 Summer games.
Boch said he was not surprised that Oslo dropped out after other bidding cities were scared off by the $51 billion price tag that came along with hosting the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
"This was clearly a political decision. You have a minority coalition government. It's very rare that a minority coalition government is taking the risk of losing or giving up its coalition for the sake of a project which shows its benefits only after the next election day," Boch said.
The International Olympic Committee will select the 2022 Winter Olympics host city on July 31, 2015, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Scooby Axson
