The decision to award the Winter Olympics meant that the city became the first venue to ever hold both the summer and Winter games, after the 2008 tournament took place there. In 2022, the world will once again turn its focus to the Chinese city, but after the controversy surrounding the games in Sochi, will there be as much interest as there has been in previous years?
The answer, most probably, is no. The process had come down to just two locations after a number of other candidates pulled out of the process since it began several years ago. The choice before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was either Almaty, Kazakhstan or Beijing, and after 45 minute proposals from both parties, they decided to opt for the city that already had experience hosting an event of this scale.
© AP Photo/Joshua Paul
However, the initial list of places that had bids in to try and secure the Winter Olympics was a lot longer, and included Oslo, Stockholm, Krakow and Lviv in Ukraine. For various reasons, they were all forced to withdraw: neither the Norwegian or Swedish cities could get funding for the mammoth costs associated with hosting the tournament, while polls showed that the Polish public were overwhelmingly against the idea of having the games there. For Lviv, the story was more to do with the unrest in Ukraine and the instability meant that it would simply not be possible to plan the games there.
The lack of enthusiasm at both public and government level in the other bidding cities shows that there is an increasing awareness that winning the right to host the tournament comes at a cost, and the final bill that it tallies to is constantly on the rise. The Olympics in Beijing cost around $40 billion, Russia's Winter games cost $51 billion, and that trend shows no signs of stopping. Not only that, but when those kinds of numbers are involved, the public begins to sit up and take notice, something that the Brazilian government is learning at the moment in the wake of the 2014 World Cup and the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The Brazilian public protested over promises from the government about infrastructure and public transport improvements that they failed to follow through on, giving the overall picture of reckless public spending when the divide between the rich and poor in the country continued to rise. Just over a year on, reports are coming back of unused stadiums in parts of the country on which hundreds of millions were spent, and as Rio prepares to host the Olympics in 2016, the controversy has already begun over the quality of water there.
© AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
For Beijing, the other problem revolves around their lack of tradition when it comes to winter sports. There is a plan in place, according to their bid, to begin pushing the sports and making sure that there are athletes who stand a chance of taking home medals, but perhaps the real problem is that there is a lack of public interest in the country. Speaking to The New York Times, Wu Xiaowen, an accountant in Beijing said the lack of enthusiasm amongst the public there was notable in comparison to when it was announced that they would be hosting the 2008 Summer games. When it comes to ice hockey and figures skating, his answer was simple: "We don't play or watch those games."
Furthermore, the Winter games are in need of a real star that can excite the crowds; the absence of Lindsey Vonn from the previous tournament had a big impact, while snowboarder Shaun White was probably the biggest star in terms of public profile. It's too far into the future to be looking for someone to crop up now, but as a smaller tournament, the Winter Olympics simply doesn't have the star power to justify the hefty bill that comes with hosting.
© AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
That bill doesn't include many of the infrastructure projects which will be required to make sure that fans and teams alike can travel between the venues. Not known for its snow, the ski events at the Beijing games will be held at venues that range from being 40 to 90 miles outside the city, which will require the construction of public transport. The various problems with accommodation and venues were highlighted in Russia at Sochi and became one of the most talked about elements of the tournament, despite the amount of money ploughed into the project.
Russia's hosting of the games saw them come under increasing pressure on the issue of gay rights, and China's record on human rights is a major concern globally. Despite the IOC's plan to start making countries comply with certain standards on issues like this, choosing Beijing seems to be sending the opposite message. In the end, it may prove that inviting international scrutiny of the type that Russia was exposed to during the last games might not prove to be be the return that the Chinese government are hoping for on their multi-billion dollar investment.
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