IOC Denies 2022 Bid Concerns; Healthier Outlook for 2026

(ATR) Despite Beijing emerging as strong favorite to secure Winter Olympic hosting rights, the IOC’s 2022 evaluation chief tells Around the Rings the host city is not a foregone conclusion.

Backed by a global PR company in Weber-Shandwick and with a solid bid that has so far received little criticism from the IOC, Beijing is the frontrunner in the two-horse race with Almaty to secure the Games. The IOC’s extension of a broadcast deal with China’s CCTV through the 2024 Games on Dec. 4 has aided the city’s 2022 ambitions.

However, the Kazakh bid has struggled to reorganize after a government shake-up of its sports ministry in the autumn. Eight weeks after the start of the international promotional phase of the bidding race, Almaty 2022 has no PR company or communications strategy in place to help tell its story to the world.

But Russia’s Alexander Zhukov, head of the IOC’s 2022 evaluation commission, denied that Beijing were coasting to victory on July 31 next year in Kuala Lumpur where the IOC vote takes place.

Zhukov was asked by ATR if the IOC was trying to keep Almaty in the race to give the contest some semblance of credibility after Oslo and several other European cities dropped out. Against all the odds, does Almaty have a chance?

Zhukov insisted it was still a two-city contest.

"Of course, sure," he told ATR.

"Actually, there are two very good bids. We will see in February and March. We have a visit of our commission and will prepare a report for IOC members."

New Zealand’s Barry Maister is one of four IOC members on the commission, alongside Zhukov, Japan’s Tsunekazu Takeda and Britain’s Adam Pengilly.

Maister would not be drawn when asked if the IOC was working to ensure Almaty stayed in the race, saying "certainly not my understanding of that."

But he admitted it was "regrettable" that only Beijing and Almaty were left to battle for hosting rights after other contenders including Kiev, Krakow, Munich and Stockholm abandoned their bids.

"It would be nice to have more. And I think everyone would agree to that," he told ATR.

"I am not going to get involved in the politics of why those two [Almaty and Beijing] are there or who is the best. That is what I am charged to do."

At the IOC’s Extraordinary Congress in Monaco last week, Canadian IOC member Dick Pound called for the 2022 race to be restarted, saying Almaty and Beijing would now benefit from the IOC’s new reforms. He told reporters that a rerun would allow previous bidders to take advantage of the new rules, designed to make it easier and cheaper for cities to mount Olympic bids.

Maister told ATR that the IOC had made its decision on the 2022 candidate cities and now that Oslo had withdrawn the Olympic body had to move on with the process.

"It’s no good saying how can we manufacture more. It’s an unusual situation but that’s how it is so let’s make the best decision we can," he said.

The vice president of the Oceania National Olympic Committees suggested it was a one-off that wouldn’t be repeated for the 2026 race.

"I don’t think only two cities for the 2022 Olympics reflects the future for the Winter Games," he said.

"There are others I know who are going to come back in. I think the timing of this wasn’t good because two strong ones pulled out. I don’t think it is doom and gloom for the Winter Games."

He added: "From what I am hearing… not just because of these reforms because of a whole lot of other things, I think there will be a much healthier field.

"I see it as a blip."

Reported by Mark Bisson

Homepage photo: Getty Images

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