Now, Beijing will be the first – and in the span of just 14 years.

That’s likely to be the case more than ever Friday when the worldwide Olympic Committee chooses between Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the 2022 Winter Games.

“Today, in Beijing’s presentation, what was very important was to show (that) with the Olympic Winter Games, 300 million people can have access to winter sports in the centre of North China“. Beijing failed to address its rampant air pollution problem, despite assurances to the IOC that it would be solved before athletes arrived in the city for the Games.

In Beijing, outside the iconic Birds Nest, which was a main venue for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, elderly women were dancing and singing – in what appeared to be more of an organized gathering than a spontaneous celebration. The result of the first vote was not disclosed.

So out came the paper ballots, and some delegates even had to ask for pens to help mark them.

“I hope the games could a benefit of the population in China”.

In Hong Kong, city legislator Albert Ho, a lawyer and founding member of Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, said the decision suggested “the IOC has lost the spirit of the Olympics”.

The victory will also once more focus attention on China’s human rights record.

“I think the IOC chose certainty in this vote,” IOC vice-president Craig Reedie said.

Despite the relatively underdeveloped status of winter sports in the country, Beijing’s vision to promote the untapped winter sports market by hosting the 2022 Games has appealed to the world, said Bach.

Human rights activists on Friday criticized the decision to award Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics, saying the global Olympic Committee had sent the wrong message at a time of growing government pressure on activists and civil society. Sochi would need to build many facilities to hold the games, although some indoor arenas from the Winter Olympics could conceivably be repurposed.

But it will also make widespread use of machine-made snow for outdoor events and some of the venues are 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Beijing.

“(I’m) excited because this is a new legacy for us in, that the first city ever in the Olympic movement will host the summer and”, said Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, president of the. China’s political and economic might was a big advantage against its northwestern neighbor, which became independent in 1991. Beijing plans to introduce a rail line to Zhangjiakou to cut travel times down.

Andrey Kyrukov, vice chairman of the Almaty bid which lost the closer-than-expected vote, was asked If he felt there was anything suspect about the vote.

Lesser familiar Kazakhstan, whose 75-year-old president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been in power since 1989, is seen as more of a risk by many IOC members.