2022 Bidders Book Trips to ANOC Meeting

(ATR) The three-city race for the 2022 Olympics will get under way in earnest at the ANOC meeting in November.

With the Nov. 1 start of the international promotional phase, it’s the first opportunity for Almaty, Beijing and Oslo to make a big noise about their Winter Olympic visions.

Around the Rings has learned that each bid will be allowed 15 minutes to present to the delegates drawn from the world’s 204 national Olympic committees. A Q&A will follow.

IOC president Thomas Bach is participating in the Nov. 7 to 8 assembly, and the 2022 bids will be keen to impress on their first international outing. No date or time is set yet for the presentations.

ANOC secretary general Gunilla Lindberg tells Around the Rings that the assembly is the "only occasion for the bids to inform all NOCs" during the bidding contest, which concludes with the IOC’s host city vote on July 31, 2015.

Lindberg said around 900 delegates are expected to attend the general assembly.

Almaty, Beijing and Kazakhstan are expected to send strong delegations to the ANOC meeting. The bids’ current workload includes preparation for the presentations and fleshing out their bid books. Final bid dossiers are due with the IOC in January.

Their presence at upcoming meetings of the continental associations for NOCs will also raise the international profiles of Almaty, Beijing and Oslo.

After Bangkok, they will present their 2022 bid concepts at the European Olympic Committees general assembly in Baku on Nov. 21. Other international opportunities follow before the IOC evaluation commission visits in the spring.

Lindberg told ATR that the two-day ANOC assembly had a packed agenda.

She said Bach would present an update on Olympic Agenda 2020, which could be the biggest talking point in Bangkok.

After the IOC Executive Board brainstorming session on Agenda 2020 in Montreux Oct. 22 to 24, the German IOC chief is likely to offer a much clearer picture about the recommendations that will be put forward for approval at the IOC Extraordinary Session in December.

As ANOC continues its process of reform and modernization, its president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah will offer a progress report.

The elections of the president, senior vice president and other members of the executive council are also scheduled. Also, the inaugural ANOC gala awards will take place. ANOC said the ceremony "will be a celebration of NOCs and their athletes and provide a unique platform to recognize their achievements on the international stage for the very first time."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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