Beijing was awarded the hosting rights to the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, setting up the Chinese capital to become the first city to stage both the Summer and Winter Games.
Members of the International Olympic Committee, which is holding its annual congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this week, voted in favor of Beijing, which hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008, over its lone competitor, Almaty, Kazakhstan. In choosing Beijing, the International Olympic Committee appeared to opt for the familiarity of Chinese organizers over the more upstart and lesser-known Kazakh bid.
While many nations, including the United States, have hosted both the Summer and Winter Games, no single city had been able to convince International Olympic Committee voters that it had the requisite infrastructure, financial resources and climate necessary to pull off such a double.