Why is Beijing hosting again?
The Beijing Winter Olympics open in just under two months and are the target of a diplomatic boycott by the United States, with others likely to follow.
So how did Beijing land the Winter Olympics, so soon after it was host to the Summer Olympics in 2008? It will become the first city in Olympic history to host the Winter and Summer Games.
The answer is simple. Potential cities in Europe — as many as six — dropped out of the bidding in the wake of the doping-scandal-ridden 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The widely advertised price tag for Sochi of $51 billion (U.S.) also frightened away future bidders.
When it got down to the voting stage in 2015 in meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the International Olympic Committee was left with only two candidates: Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Beijing won 44-40, a close vote that was marred by what some at the time suggested might have been voting irregularities. IOC President Thomas Bach bristled at the suggestion.
What cities or areas withdrew from the 2022 race? It’s a long list, including Oslo, Stockholm, Krakow, Poland, and Lviv, Ukraine. Two other areas with potentially strong bids — St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Munich — were rejected by the public in voter referendums.
Norwegian and IOC officials traded public barbs in 2014 about their dissatisfaction with each other. Details of the IOC’s demands upon bid cities for its members — including a cocktail reception with the King of Norway, use of exclusive road lanes, and specific requests for fruit and cakes in hotel rooms — were leaked and described as “pompousness” by one lawmaker.
Beijing or Almaty? The choice for the IOC members came down to two authoritarian governments that did not require any public vote, and had few constraints on spending. Beijing spent more than $40 billion on the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In promoting their proposals, organizers in Almaty at the time said 79 per cent supported the bid. Beijing said 94.8 per cent in China were in favour.
Almaty tried to win the vote, reminding that it was a winter sports city surrounded by mountains and natural snow. It was a dig at Beijing, which has no winter sports tradition and little natural snow in the areas picked for skiing. Beijing and some IOC members countered that skiers actually prefer artificial snow. The IOC also saw Beijing as a huge winter-sports business opportunity, and the city won by four votes. It was believed to be the less risky option.
“It really is a safe choice,” Bach said at the time. “We know China will deliver on its promises.”
The choice was sharply criticized by human rights groups.
What was the fallout? Having just two candidates at the end — neither the top choices — shocked the IOC. It was part of the reason that the IOC no longer goes through a long bid process to pick host cities. Bach said the process produced too many “losers.”
Moreover, it was embarrassing for the IOC to explain why voters turned down holding the Olympics — particularly the smaller Winter Games. The bid process was also soiled by scandals surrounding the awarding of the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, in which IOC member were allegedly bribed for their votes. The bidding for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games was also hit by scandal.
Under the IOC’s new process of choosing venues, the approximately 100 IOC members no longer vote. The choice is made by the leadership headed by Bach. The IOC has already chosen venues for the Olympics through 2032. The only open slot is the 2030 Winter Olympics, in which Sapporo, Japan, seems to be the leading candidate. The IOC has not indicated when that choice will be made.