The 128th IOC Session will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to vote between Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan as the 2022 Olympic Winter Games host city.

About 1,400 journalists from all over the world have signed up to report on the coming decision, which will be announced Friday.

The Beijing delegation arrived in Kuala Lumpur on July 25, which included bid ambassadors such as former NBA star Yao Ming, Li Nina, Zhang Hong, Hou Bin and gold medalist figure skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

Wang Hui, deputy secretary general and publicity department director of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee, stated on July 27 that it is a dream for Chinese people far and wide to hold Olympic Winter Games.

Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Olympics, is looking to become the first city in history to hold summer and winter games.

A 2022 Beijing Games would keep the Olympics in East Asia three consecutive times, following the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games and 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

Bid delegations for Almaty and Beijing will make their statements to the IOC starting at 9 am (local time) on Friday. Following IOC interviews with each delegation, the two candidate cities will hold separate news conferences, which may last to about 1 pm.

After a 2-hour break, the IOC evaluation commission will deliver a 40-minute report at about 3 pm. The final vote will be tallied at around 4:15 pm.

IOC President Thomas Bach will announce the host city at 5:30 pm. Between 6:30 pm and 6:50 pm, the host city will sign the contract with the IOC and hold a joint news conference.

Zhang Haidi, vice president of Beijing Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee, used the phrase “as sudden as lightning” to describe the rapid development of Beijing during an interview on July 27.

Wang Hui stated that in case artificial snow is used in Beijing, the total water used will only be 0.2 to 0.3 percent of the total municipal water of venue city Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.

Gian Franco Kasper, IOC Committee member and president of the International Ski Federation, told media that using artificial snow for competitions is “out of question”.

Almaty has spared no efforts in its bid for the Games. The city government has called on its residents to show their support in public rallies just ahead of the announcement on July 31.

IOC President Thomas Bach was quoted by AFP as saying, “We have 2 out-standing candidates. It’s not easy to make a choice.”

Source: People’s Daily and Global Times