Almaty 2022 Positive After IOC Bid Questions -- On the Scene

(ATR) Vice chairman Vladimir Smirnov tells Around the Rings the mood in the bid camp is "very good" after the opening day of the IOC inspection.

The Kazakh team covered five themes of their Winter Olympic bid dossier in their presentations to the IOC’s 2022 Evaluation Commission at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Saturday.

The overall vision, sports and venues, sustainability, legacy and engagement were discussed. Members of the international media numbered 10, and were allowed into the meeting room for an early photo call – the only one of the day – before proceedings got underway.

Despite a car accident on Friday which put Almaty’s head of media operations Bermet Askar in intensive care with a fractured skull, Smirnov said the team was in good shape and the day had gone well.

Kazakhstan’s eight-time Olympic medalist dismissed the perception that exists that rival Beijing is favorite to win the bidding contest.

Emphasising that Almaty had a compact bid, with 60 percent of venues in place and great snow, the country’s most decorated Winter Olympian said the Kazakh offer was a technically stronger proposition for the IOC.

He suggested it was time for the IOC to take the Olympics to a new territory, a central Asian nation with a good track record of hosting major winter sports events with little to build for the Games.

"I believe absolutely. We are a new country, new destination, new people and natural resources for the [winter] sport," said the former Olympic cross-country skier.

"I am very confident. The basis for the concept is a winner."

Venue Tour Impresses

The IOC delegation led by Russian IOC member Alexander Zhukov spent the morning in private meetings before touring some of the venues proposed for the 2022 Olympics.

These included Ak Bulak Nordic Arena, where biathlon and cross country is planned, AK Bulak Olympic Village, and the Tabagan cluster, site of Alpine and freestyle skiing.

Speaking at an evening press conference, bid chairman Andrey Kryukov said the impression Almaty 2022 received from the IOC inspectors was "really positive".

"They have seen it all with their own eyes," he told reporters.

"From today we are absolutely sure and more confident with our Games concept and vision," Kryukov said.

The general secretary of the Swimming Federation of Kazakhstan described day one of the commission’s visit as "a great experience for us".

"We feel satisfaction from the commission. They received good answers. We tried to discover as much as we can and deliver all our advantages to the commission," he added.

Almaty 2022’s bid book was tweaked at the last minute before submission on Jan. 6 to show the IOC how much of it was aligned with the Agenda 2020 reforms approved a month earlier.

Kryukov said Agenda 2020 reforms provided Almaty with flexibility. Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi made "good comments concerning Agenda 2020", indicating that the Kazakh bid was moving in the right direction in the IOC’s efforts to reduce the costs and scale of Summer and Winter Olympics.

"We deliver a very good budget concept… very low, very efficient, using existing venues as much as we can," he explained.

Asked by ATR what concerns or major challenges the IOC had identified for Almaty, he said only that there were a lot of questions on sustainability "and we have very good answers and I feel commission is satisfied fully with that".

Earlier at the Tabagan site, Almaty’s chief masterplanner Gernot Leitner underscored the edge that the city’s bid has over Beijing.

"Almaty has a huge advantage. It can choose every mountain for almost every event. It’s just a luxury situation," he told reporters. He described the existing facilities, which require relatively cheap upgrades to be ready for the Olympics, as "plug and play venues".

Unlike previous IOC evaluation commission visits, which have included opportunities for reporters to intersect with the media on venue tours, there is only one photo call in the schedule, on Monday.

With domestic media joining the venue tour, the number of journalists rose to around 50 for the afternoon’s outing.

Roadside banners and billboard posters were everywhere on the excursion, which took place under blue skies. Snow had fallen over the past two days in the mountains and, basking in the sun, the Zailiski Alatau range was quite a sight for the IOC delegation, perhaps a glimpse of what is to come in February 2022 in the city apples.

On Sunday, the IOC team spends the morning in meetings with Almaty 2022 officials before heading to the ice palace, ceremonies stadium and Sunkar jumping and sliding centre.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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