The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) unanimously agreed today that Oslo (Norway), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China) would progress from the Applicant City Phase to the Candidate City Phase in the bid to host the Olympic Winter Games 2022.

The EB based its decision on a technical analysis of the Applicant Cities’ applications submitted earlier this year. The analysis and subsequent report were made by an IOC-appointed working group of Olympic Games experts who assessed each Applicant City’s potential for successfully staging the Olympic Winter Games 2022. The technical assessment was based on a number of criteria, covering a variety of areas such as venues, transport, accommodation and security.