Stockholm to bid for 2022 Winter Games

Stockholm: Stockholm is bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) said on Monday.

The Swedish capital staged the 1912 Summer Games and a successful bid for 2022 would mean Stockholm becoming the first city to stage both the winter and summer Olympics. Cities hoping to host the Winter Games must notify the International Olympic Committee by November 14. The Swedish capital is expected to face competition from Almaty (Kazakhstan), Lviv (Ukraine), Beijing/Zhangjiakou (China), Oslo (Norway) and Krakow (Poland). "The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) today put forward Stockholm to the International Olympic Committee as a possible host city for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2022," the SOK statement said. "If the ongoing investigations reveal that the project is viable, an application will be submitted to the IOC on March 14 2014. That will be deepened in January 2015 when the issue of government guarantees will also be dealt with." A report into the viability of staging the Games was published in October and suggested strongly that the Swedish Olympic committee was considering a bid. "It (the report) showed that the possibilities are very good financially, technically and in terms of snow to stage the Games without state funding." The last Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver. The 2014 event will be held in Sochi, Russia, while South Korea`s Pyeongchang will be the host in 2018.