Five cities take first step toward hosting 2022 Winter Olympics

Five cities interested in hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics have submitted application files to the International Olympic Committee.

Beijing and Oslo head the list, which also includes Almaty, Kazakhstan; Krakow, Poland; and Lviv, Ukraine.

The application files provide an overview of each city’s vision and concept for the Games.

An IOC working group will study the information and submit a report to the executive board, which will then select the official candidates. At that point, the chosen cities have until January 2015 to submit in-depth blueprints of their plans.

IOC members are scheduled to elect the host city at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in late July of that year.

Beijing is trying to become the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

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