• Chinese capital becomes first to host summer and winter Games • Country pledges to use Games to tackle ‘toxic air pollution’ 
 
 Beijing has won the battle to host the 2022 Winter Olympics after the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, made a last-minute vow to lay on a “fantastic, extraordinary and excellent” event. Beijing defeated its rival Almaty in Kazakhstan by 44 votes to 40, with one IOC member abstaining. 
 
 International Olympic Committee delegates handed the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic events to Beijing on Friday afternoon following a secret ballot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
 
 “We are honoured and humbled by the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award Beijing the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” Beijing’s bid committee said in a statement. “It is with an incredible sense of excitement that we express our thanks to the IOC and the wider Olympic movement. Just as with the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, the Olympic family has put its faith in Beijing again to deliver the athlete-centred, sustainable and economical Games we have promised. 
 
 “This will be a memorable event at the foot of the Great Wall for the whole Olympic family, the athletes and the spectators that will further enhance the tremendous potential to grow winter sports in our country, in Asia and around the world. We would like to congratulate Almaty 2022 for their campaign. We wish to thank once again all the Chinese people and people around the world who have supported Beijing 2022 in this extraordinary bid journey.” 
 
 Earlier, the president Xi threw his weight behind China’s bid, promising the “strongest support” for the Beijing Games in a one-minute video address to the IOC delegates. 
 
 Winter Olympics 2022 decision: Beijing beats Almaty to host Games – live! Read more 
 
 A Beijing Olympics would “boost exchanges and mutual understanding between the Chinese and other civilisations of the world,” Xi said. “The Chinese people are looking forward to this opportunity. Let me assure you that if you choose Beijing the Chinese people will present to the world a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.” 
 
 Beijing’s mayor, Wang Anshun, vowed to deliver “Games that are joyful and harmonious, Games that are safe and reliable”. 
 
 The 2022 Beijing Winter Games will in fact be split between three Olympic sites: one in the city of Zhangjiakou, 125 miles from Beijing in the Hebei province, another in Yanqing, a mountainous region to Beijing’s north-west, and a third in China’s sprawling capital itself. 
 
 A key component of Beijing’s winning bid was its pledge to tackle the toxic air pollution that often enshrouds the city. Beijing’s mayor told IOC delegates huge steps had been taken since his city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, with one million high-emissions vehicles forced from its roads. “All our efforts are moving Beijing towards a clean energy future,” Wang said. 
 
 Chinese officials have also dismissed concerns over a dearth of natural snowfall in the region around Beijing. Almaty’s campaign slogan – “Keeping it real” – was a not-so-subtle swipe at China’s promise to compensate with artificial snow. “Real snow, real winter ambience, real winter Games,” boasted a promotional video for Almaty 2022. 
 
 But Liu Peng, the president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, batted away Kazakhstan’s provocations. “Ski resorts have been operating in Zhangjiakou for decades,” he said on Friday. “Beijing 2022 will build on its existing snow-making capability to supplement natural snow fall.” 
 
 Nor was the lack of a winter sports culture in China an issue. Chinese officials have said they hope the Beijing Winter Olympics will ignite “a winter sports passion” that will help create a £535m industry in China by 2025. 
 
 “Winter sports fever is sweeping our nation,” claimed Liu, adding that more than one million Chinese teenagers were now ice skating regularly. “Twenty years ago China had less than 10 ski resorts. We now have more than 500.” 
 
 In 2001, Beijing’s selection as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics sparked an international outcry amid criticism of China’s human rights record. In the runup to Friday’s vote activists had again called on the IOC to reject Beijing’s bid in response to a “human rights crisis” they believe is under way in China. 
 
 Amnesty International says at least 231 people have been detained or questioned in recent weeks as part of what campaigners, diplomats and observers describe as an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers. 
 
 But Jin Shan, a sports commentator, said the victory would give “a huge boost” to China’s attempts to build a 5 trillion yuan (£516bn) sports industry and would create millions of jobs. Beijing’s triumph would also prove a tonic for ambitious plans to create “Jing-jin-ji”, a 130 million-population megacity around the Chinese capital, Jin added. 
 
 There was no risk Olympic facilities would be become “white elephants” after the event was over. “I live close to the Bird’s Nest stadium and the Water Cube and see many people visiting both venues every day,” he said. “We have a huge population and there will be great demand for these sports venues after the Games.” 
 
 Beijing’s mayor claimed 92% of the country supported the 2022 Olympic campaign. Yet many Chinese have reacted with indifference. “Don’t waste taxpayers’ money,” one user of Weibo, China’s Twitter, wrote on Friday. “Is the country’s reputation more important than improving people’s lives?” 
 
 Additional reporting by Luna Lin. ||||| Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city to hold a Summer Games and a Winter Games, after beating Almaty, Kazakhstan, in an International Olympic Committee members vote Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
 
 Beijing received 44 votes to Almaty’s 40. 
 
 “Just as with the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, the Olympic family has put its faith in Beijing again to deliver the athlete-centred, sustainable and economical Games we have promised,” the Beijing bid committee said in a statement. “This will be a memorable event at the foot of the Great Wall for the whole Olympic family, the athletes and the spectators that will further enhance the tremendous potential to grow winter sports in our country, in Asia and around the world.” 
 
 Beijing, site of the 2008 Olympics, plans to spread 2022 Olympic events across three clusters over 100 miles and use the Bird’s Nest stadium for Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as it did seven years ago. One of the lowest-latitude Winter Olympic hosts will supplement natural snow with man-made snow. 
 
 The Water Cube, where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in 2008, will become the Ice Cube, used for curling. 
 
 It will mark the third straight Olympics in East Asia, following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. 
 
 Almaty hoped to bring the Olympics to Kazakhstan for the first time and to the smallest nation by population since Athens 2004 (and Lillehammer 1994 for the Winter Games). 
 
 Also Friday, the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics were awarded to Lausanne, Switzerland, over Brasov, Romania, in an IOC members vote. 
 
 Watch Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic promo video 
 
 Both 2022 Winter Olympic bids made presentations to IOC members earlier Friday, starting with Almaty. The Kazakh bid team, which included Sochi Olympic bronze medalist figure skater Denis Ten, emphasized its bid’s advantages over Beijing — lots and lots of natural snow and a compact venue plan. 
 
 “Real snow,” “a winter wonderland” and “frostbite” were uttered. 
 
 All proposed venues were within a 30km radius of the Olympic Village, a statistic repeated in the presentation. 
 
 “No bus, train or car rides for hours,” Almaty bid vice chairman Andrey Kryukov said. “No one endures many hours just to enjoy snow and ice events in a single day.” 
 
 Almaty pointed out that it would become the first Central Asian nation to host an Olympics. 
 
 “Historic moment as a finalist,” Ten said. “A tremendous victory just by being here.” 
 
 Kazakhstan prime minister Karim Massimov delivered Almaty’s final speech, asking IOC members to “have faith in us.” 
 
 “Perhaps because we are unknown to most of you, some might consider us a risky choice,” he said, adding that all bid cities have a level of risk before concluding with, “Almaty is not a risky choice. We are a golden opportunity. We are a golden opportunity to prove that smaller, advancing nations can successfully host the Winter Games.” 
 
 Beijing came next, armed with a delegation including 7-foot, 6-inch retired basketball star Yao Ming, who also played an ice hockey goalie in a recorded promotional video. Its message often reminded IOC members of the city’s successful 2008 Olympic Games. 
 
 “China is a longtime friend and partner of the Olympic movement,” said China Olympic Committee vice president Yu Zaiqing, also an IOC vice president. “You trusted us then [in 2008], and we delivered on every expectation. We hope you will trust us now.” 
 
 The Beijing team said hosting the Winter Games would encourage 300 million Chinese to participate in ice and snow sports, building a foundation for the future of the world’s most populous nation. 
 
 It also addressed concerns. Beijing mayor Wang Anshun said there’s a $130 billion plan to enhance air quality for a “clean energy future.” 
 
 The bid’s venue plan spreads across some 100 miles, but Wang said a not-yet-finished high-speed train would take riders from venue to venue in as little as 20 minutes (and as much as 50 minutes, a promo video said last year). 
 
 Beijing’s bid would require man-made snow, but speakers said more than half of the country has below-freezing temperatures, the whole country has more than 500 ski resorts and Beijing has 17 ice rinks. 
 
 “Beijing 2022 is a Games about the future of winter sport,” Yu said. “We hope it will have a future of millions of new fans, a future of new sponsors, partners, a future of new athletes, opportunities.” 
 
 The 2024 Olympic host will be voted on in 2017. Budapest, Hamburg, Paris, Rome and a U.S. city are stated bidders so far. 
 
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– It's almost like pollution-free countries don't have a shot anymore: The choice for the 2022 Winter Olympics came down to China vs. Kazakhstan, and China was today awarded the games, which Xi Jinping vowed would be "fantastic, extraordinary, and excellent," reports the Guardian. The Beijing Games would "boost exchanges and mutual understanding between the Chinese and other civilizations of the world," Xi noted before the win, presumably in a way not seen since it hosted the Summer Games in 2008. Left out in the cold by today's IOC announcement in Kuala Lumpur was Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was a tight race, notes NBC News, with Beijing receiving 44 votes to Almaty's 40 in the secret vote, making Beijing the only city to have been handed summer and winter games. The jockeying appeared to take on a hint of third grade, with Almaty noting that Beijing isn't exactly known for scads of what might be considered a key component of a winter Games: snow, which China pledged to manufacture if need be. "Keeping it real" was Almaty's slogan, with a promo video promising "Real snow, real winter ambiance, real winter games." Meanwhile, the victor says it will split the 2022 Games between the cities of Zhangjiakou, Yanqing, and Beijing itself, which NBC News describes as "three clusters over 100 miles." And again partying like it was 2008, the Chinese capital literally promised to clean up its pollution problem. One element of recycling: China says it will again use Bird's Nest Stadium, from its 2008 Games, for opening and closing ceremonies.