KUALA LUMPUR — (CNN) The wait is almost over.
Officials in China and Kazakhstan will find out Friday if their quests to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games have been successful.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make the announcement after a secret ballot held during the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Only two cities are in the running — Beijing and Almaty — after Oslo, Munich and Stockholm bowed to public pressure and decided not to pursue plans to host the winter sports showpiece.
At first glance, Almaty’s bid looks like it’s punching above its weight, pitching itself against Beijing. The Chinese capital is aiming to become the only city to have hosted the winter and summer games.
Aside from British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen’s award-winning take on Kazakhstan through the eyes of “Borat,” little is known about the former Soviet republic — which also happens to be the world’s largest landlocked nation.
Should Kazakhstan’s pitch be successful it will become the first central Asian nation to host the Winter Olympics.
But with significant oil and gas reserves, it is now the largest economy in Central Asia and keen to use this event to increase investment, development and raise its profile.
Despite being in rude health economically, officials in Almaty plan to keep events within a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) radius, saving $500 million in transport costs between locations.
Beijing has already proved its worth as a successful Olympic host, having hosted the summer version of the games in 2008.
Its pitch is about being a safe choice and a top tourism destination with the infrastructure to handle large events. Becoming the first city to run both Olympic games could be tempting PR for the IOC.
Adding to Beijing’s bid is the city’s proven ability to control smog during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Beijing plans to stage ice events, while snow-based competitions would take place in Zhangjiakou in Heibei Province, 190 km northwest of the city.
Only this week Chinese officials re-iterated that pollution would not be a problem.
Xu Jicheng, deputy director of Beijing 2022’s press and communications department, said that “technically the pollution has been reduced and controlled, we have seven more years to go and it will be sunshine and white clouds.”
With only two cities — both run by what could be considered authoritarian regimes — bidding for the prestige of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics the question arises as to whether the games — and specifically the winter games — have lost their allure.
High costs and dubious returns have arguably turned democratic countries — where politicians are forced to listen to their voting public — and answerable to budget blowouts, made many nations wary of hosting the world’s biggest sporting events.
Over the past two years, cities in Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine have all backed away from proposals to host the Winter Olympics.
Oslo’s decision not to continue was taken for both financial and political reasons, the Norwegian Olympic Committee Secretary General, Inge Anderson told CNN last October.
Where once the promise of a boost to tourism and better national sporting facilities would suffice, it seems many countries are heeding the lessons learned from the debt experienced by Greece from the $11 billion bill for 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.
More recently, there’s the estimated $50 billion price tag for the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
With only two bidders remaining, the IOC may run into conflict with its own new rules, which were enacted in 2014.
IOC President Thomas Bach has stressed that the Olympic Charter of tolerance and no discrimination will apply to any successful bidder.
In its 2014 World Report, Human Rights Watch called Kazakhstan’s record “poor” in citing a crackdown on free speech, flawed trials and torture in its prisons as major concerns.
Then there are issues with individual rights, the group says Kazakhstan’s LGBT community was “living in fear” as a result of pervasive homophobic attitudes and a lack of government protection.
China too has humanitarian issues.
Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics were marred by forced evictions and Human Rights Watch recently criticized China for having abusive, unaccountable domestic security forces.
Activists have also highlighted what they say is the country’s deteriorating human rights, with more than 260 Chinese citizens detained or questioned in a recent crackdown on communist party opponents, activists, journalists and academics.
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