Almaty Winter Olympics 2022 bid hopes boosted by IOC visit

Representatives of the Kazakh city of Almaty 2022 have expressed confidence over the status of its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week rounded off a five-day visit to the city.

Speaking about this week’s visit, Almaty 2022 Vice-Chairman Andrey Kryukov said he believes that the city surprised the IOC with its long winter sports tradition, adding that officials were impressed with the facilities in place.

Kryukov told the Reuters news agency “we were expecting the evaluation commission visit as a serious test for our team and in reality it was exactly that.

“For us it was the best showcase we could have with the IOC. We showed them our best advantages.”

Almaty already has more than 60% of its venues in place and Kryukov believes the IOC may have been surprised by the quality of these facilities. The Medeo skating rink, which has hosted more world records than any other rink in the world, as well as a ski jumping venue and the nearby mountains would be utilised in a compact Games proposal.

Kryukov added “we have real snow, real venues, we are a real winter sports city. Nobody knew we were so developed in these regards.

“When they (IOC) saw how many people love the winter sports they understood this is an absolutely winter city. They may not have expected such a reality from this concept.”

Kryukov also noted that the city would not have issues with so-called ‘white elephants’, where venues are left empty and unused following the Games.

He stated “we never said to the IOC anything they did not find or see. We want the Games to fit into the city and not the city into the Games.”

Almaty faces competition from Beijing in its bid to host the 2022 Games, with the IOC set to visit the Chinese capital from 24th to 28th March to review its facilities. The host city for the 2022 Games will be elected at an IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 31st July.

Answering concerns about Kazakhstan’s human rights record, Kryukov concluded “we had these questions here.

“We are fully supportive of the Olympic charter. We are a young country but from year to year we improve it.”

The 2018 Winter Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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