It's done. Beijing and Almaty submitted their respective candidacy files for the 6 Winter Games on Tuesday January 2022. The only two cities in the running for the organization of the Olympic fortnight took place at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. A step more symbolic than decisive, which the two teams had chosen to take one day ahead of the deadline, set for January 7, 2015.
For the record, the Chinese delegation submitted its document first, at 11:00 a.m. It was made up of around twenty people and led by Liu Peng, the president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Wang Anshun, the head of the committee. application. The two men entrusted their file to Christophe Dubi, the IOC sports director.
The small troop from Almaty, less experienced in the exercise, followed her at the start of the afternoon. A smaller Kazakh delegation, composed of only five representatives and led by Zauresh Amanzhilova, the deputy mayor of Almaty, and Timur Dossymbetov, the secretary general of the national Olympic committee of Kazakhstan.
The two delegations were entitled to a meeting of around thirty minutes in the Coubertin room, with members of the IOC management. They were also received by Thomas Bach, the president of the Olympic institution. The German leader strongly recommended that they draw inspiration in their final months of campaigning from the resolutions of Agenda 2020, voted on last December by the 127th session of the IOC in Monaco. In short, to be reasonable, responsible and as less grandiloquent as possible. Unlike the option chosen by the Russians for Sochi 2014.
Like good students, the Chinese and Kazakhs nodded and swore to their great gods that they had received the message five out of five. “We have submitted a candidacy file which embodies the recommendations of the IOC and those of President (Thomas) Bach included in Agenda 2020,” declared Wang Anshun, quoted by AFP. “We will follow the recommendations of Agenda 2020,” added Liu Peng, convinced that the Chinese candidacy will do “an even better job by following these recommendations.”
Same politeness retained in the Almaty camp. Zauresh Amanzhilova assured, with a hand on her heart, that "several recommendations of Agenda 2020 had already been taken into consideration in the development of the Almaty 2022 Olympic concept." Then she swore, with the same fervor, that the “bid file fit perfectly with the new philosophy of the IOC. » Perfect equality, therefore.
The rest of the operations promise to be a little more difficult for the two cities. First step: a check for $500.000 to be paid to the IOC, before January 31, 2015, to cover the costs linked to the evaluation process and study of the files. Not given. But Thomas Bach promised it to the two applicants: the winner will not regret his expense. He should in fact receive from the IOC a financial contribution estimated today at 880 million dollars. Not bad.
Second highlight: the visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission, scheduled from February 14 to 18 in Almaty, then from March 24 to 28 in Beijing. It will be led by a regular, the Russian Alexander Zhukov, flanked by two expert assistants, Christophe Dubi and Jacqueline Barrett. The two candidate cities will then present their project in detail during the IOC members' briefing on June 9 and 10 in Lausanne. A briefing which will be preceded by the publication by the IOC of the report of the evaluation commission.
At the last score, Beijing would be favorite. But Almaty would still have all its chances. Suffice it to say that nothing is being done.
