Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

has awarded Beijing the 2022 Winter Games

With the selection, the Chinese city will become the first to host both winter and summer games. Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games.

With a vote of 44 to 40, Beijing beat out Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan.

, the IOC said: "Beijing aims to use the Games to accelerate the development of a new sport, culture and tourism area, and to encourage interest in winter sports in a region that is home to more than 300 million people in northern China."


The bidding process for these Olympic Games was not without controversy.

, Munich and Stockholm dropped out of the bidding process because they were afraid of the costs.


Eventually, Tom says, the IOC went with the safe choice. Almaty is, of course, lesser known, but it offered real snow.


Beijing will have to rely on man-made snow, and some of the mountain venues in Beijing are 100 miles away. But, Tom adds, it will save on some costs by reusing some of the same venues it built for the 2008 games: The so-called 

, for example, will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies, and 

NPR's Anthony Kuhn was recently in a village near the city of Zhangjiakou, some 120 miles northwest of Beijing, where most of the downhill events will take place.

"I'm walking down the main street of the village that is supposed to be a transport hub, after they construct a high-speed railroad from Beijing," Anthony says. "Right now, there's not much to look at though, it's just a main street, with simple, low-slung farm houses on either side. Most people just sit around by the side of the road, when they're not in the fields farming their cabbages."

Sports

With the selection, Beijing will become the first city to host both winter and summer games. Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games.

Beijing awarded the 2022 Olympic Winter Games

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox