The German city of Munich will not be competing for the organization of the Winter Olympics in 2022. A majority of the population of Munich and the area around the city voted in a referendum against the biggest winter sports event in the world.
The result of the referendum means another setback for the southern German city. Munich namely tried earlier to get the Winter Games in 2018 but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) preferred Pyeongchang (South Korea) over Munich.
It was Munich’s ambition to be the first city in history to organize the Summer- and Winter Olympics. In 1972, the German city hosted the Summer Olympics. The state of Bavaria had the Winter Olympics before, although that was already a while ago: Garmisch-Partenkirchen organized the Winter Games in 1936.
Other cities competing for 2022 Winter Games
Lviv (Ukraine), Beijing (China), Almaty (Kazachstan) and Oslo (Norway) are still competing for the Winter Olympics of 2022. The Polish city of Krakow is also be interested in the 2022 Games and would like to organize it with neighboring Slovakia.
Beijing could be the first city to host the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. The Chinese capital organized in 2008 the Summer Games. Beijing would host the biggest winter sports event together with the Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, where all snow events would take place, while Beijing would host all indoor events.
If Oslo would be chosen as Olympic city for the 2022 Games, then that would mean the Winter Olympics return for the first time to the Norwegian capital since 1952. The Scandinavian country also hosted the 1994 Winter Games, which took place in Lillehammer.
Almaty has already experience in organizing winter sports events. It was one of the host cities for the 2011 Asian Winter Games and it is also organizing the 2017 Winter Universiade, a multi-sports event for university athletes.
The executive Board of the IOC will review in July 2014 all bids from the cities that applied and then select the candidate cities. Members of the International Olympic Committee will decide in July 2015 during a congress in Kuala Lumpur who will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The 2014 Winter Olympics take place from 7 to 23 February in Sochi, Russia.