Beijing won its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, making it the first city to be awarded both a summer and winter games.
Beijing narrowly beat out Almaty, earning 44 votes compared to the city in Kazakhstan's 40. Oslo was initially named a finalist, but its Olympic bid was withdrawn after the Norwegian government voted against financially supporting it.
In winning its bid to host the winter games, Beijing managed to overcome questions over a potential lack of natural snow and concerns over the distance between proposed venues. The 2022 competitions will be spread across three clusters over 100 miles.
Ahead of the IOC vote, both the Almaty and Bejing bids had drawn criticism from human-rights groups.
Human Rights Watch has cited violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face in Kazakhstan, according to the AP, while activists say China's human-rights record worsened rather than improved after the 2008 Olympics.
Read More: Winter Olympics: Beijing Wins Bid to Host 2022 Games - NBC News
Beijing narrowly beat out Almaty, earning 44 votes compared to the city in Kazakhstan's 40. Oslo was initially named a finalist, but its Olympic bid was withdrawn after the Norwegian government voted against financially supporting it.
In winning its bid to host the winter games, Beijing managed to overcome questions over a potential lack of natural snow and concerns over the distance between proposed venues. The 2022 competitions will be spread across three clusters over 100 miles.
Ahead of the IOC vote, both the Almaty and Bejing bids had drawn criticism from human-rights groups.
Human Rights Watch has cited violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face in Kazakhstan, according to the AP, while activists say China's human-rights record worsened rather than improved after the 2008 Olympics.
Read More: Winter Olympics: Beijing Wins Bid to Host 2022 Games - NBC News
No comments:
Post a Comment