Bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics

A total of six bids were initially submitted for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Four of the bids were subsequently withdrawn by 1 October 2014, citing either the high costs of hosting the Games or the lack of local support, leaving Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, China as the only two remaining candidate cities. Beijing was then elected as the host city at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 31 July 2015.
On 3 October 2012, the IOC announced in a letter to the NOCs the bidding calendar for the 2022 Winter Olympics:
Note that the selected candidate cities have slightly changed venues plan in the final proposal to the IOC. Almaty moved technical alpine skiing events from Shymbulak to Tau, and completely removed both Kok Zhaylau and Ak-Bulak ski resorts, previously proposed for snowboarding and freestyle skiing events. Beijing dropped both Taiwu and Wanlong ski resorts, and proposed hosting snowboarding and freestyle skiing events in the two venues (A and B) in Genting Snow Park.
All data comes from applicant cities' bid books. Candidate cities' public support data has been updated.
Each cell of the table provides a minimum and a maximum figure obtained by the applicant city on the specific criteria. These figures are to be compared to a benchmark which has been set at 6.
On 15 November 2013, the IOC announced the list of the six applicant cities. On 7 July 2014, the IOC announced that there were three remaining applicant cities that would move on to the candidate phase; these were Almaty, Beijing and Oslo.
On 1 October 2014, Oslo withdrew its application after one of the country's governing political parties Høyre decided not to support the application. The remaining two candidate cities were therefore Almaty and Beijing.
Both of the candidate cities suggested hosting the Games between February 4–20, 2022. The Paralympics will be held from March 4–13. While another city suggested hosting the Games between February 11–27, 2022. The Paralympics will be held from March 11–20.
Since 2011, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been considering a bid for the 2022 games in Almaty, the former longtime capital city and still the largest city and financial centre of the country. Kazakhstan hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games. Almaty will host 2017 Winter Universiade. The current Kazakh capital Astana considered to joint bid with Almaty but the idea was later declined. On 17 August 2013, Almaty announced they were bidding for the 2022 Games. Under the slogan "Keeping it Real", Almaty has emphasized her traditional winter setting with tall mountains and plenty of natural snow coverage as well as compactness — most venues are within half an hour's travel through Alpine scenery.
Presenting Kazakhstan's bid at the final event in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov made a speech with the key message that Almaty was "not a risk choice for 2022", but "a golden opportunity to prove that smaller advancing nations can successfully host the winter games". He called to the IOC core values saying that letting Almaty host the Games was "a golden opportunity to showcase the real long-term power of Olympic legacy for a region that has never hosted the Games". In the final voting Almaty lost to Beijing by only 4 votes.
On 5 November 2013, the Chinese Olympic Committee announced that it would submit a bid for Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing (where the indoor ice sports and the ceremonies would take place), was the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Zhangjiakou would host the outdoor snow events.
Before the final voting in Kuala Lumpur Beijing's bid was presented by Yang Lan, a renowned former CCTV host, who said sports and fitness were becoming a new fashion trend in China. In her speech she focused on China's economy and its ability to support every commitment it made "protecting long time financial viability and the reputation of the Games".
On 6 November 2013, the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports announced that Oslo would be submitted as the Norwegian candidate for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Oslo last hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics, and Norway last hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. On 1 October 2014 the Conservative Party decided that they would not support a bid for the games citing costs and lack of public support. A vast number of polls were conducted, and since April 2014 support had varied between 24% and 37%. The days leading up to the deliberation in the Conservative Party had consisted of a series of negative developments for the bid. Those negative developments included the Centre Party saying "no" through a grass root vote, a poll showing that even within the Norwegian Confederation of Sports the majority of members opposed the bid, an external revision which clarified that the newly suggested cheaper budget was unrealistic and public scrutiny on IOC´s 7000 pages of demands.
Norway rejected the Olympic committee's application for government funding to hold the event in Norway after the private organization IOC made a large number of demands which caused a scandal in Norway. The demands notably included "diva-like demands for luxury treatment" for the IOC members themselves, such as special lanes on all roads only to be used by IOC members, a cocktail reception at the Royal Palace with drinks paid for by the royal family, car and drivers for all IOC members, adjusted traffic lights, free cell phones, seasonal fruits, and all "OL-shaped" and "Olympic Appearance” furniture. The IOC also demanded "control over all advertising space throughout Oslo during the Games, to be used exclusively by official sponsors." Several commentators pointed out that such demands were unheard of in a western democracy; Slate described the IOC as a "notoriously ridiculous organization run by grifters and hereditary aristocrats."
On 7 November 2013, the Polish Olympic Committee announced they submitted a bid to the IOC for the 2022 Winter Olympics, together with Zakopane, Poland, and Jasná, a village in central Slovakia, near the Polish border. If the bid had been successful, it would have been the first time either Poland or Slovakia hosted the Olympics. Zakopane previously bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics but failed to become a candidate. Kraków's bid was submitted to a local referendum held on 25 May 2014, which had a negative result. After that Kraków discontinued the application on 26 May 2014.
The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine officially submitted a bid for Lviv to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on 5 November 2013. On 30 June 2014, however, the IOC announced that Lviv would "turn its attention to an Olympic bid for 2026, and not continue with its application for 2022." This decision was taken as a result of the "political and economic circumstances in Ukraine".
On 11 November 2013, the Swedish Olympic Committee announced that it had submitted a bid, but on 17 January 2014, Stockholm dropped the bid due to lack of political support. Åre, about 610 km (380 mi) from Stockholm, was scheduled to host the alpine skiing events. Stockholm previously hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics and hosted equestrian events of the 1956 Summer Olympics, but this was the first time the Swedish capital had bid for the Winter Olympics. Had it won, it would have been the first city to host both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, a distinction that ultimately went to Beijing.
Beijing was selected as host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics after beating Almaty by just four votes. Beijing received one more vote than the 43 needed for majority.