A skier soars through the air during training session at the Sunkar Ski Jumping complex in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is aspiring to host the 2022 Winter Olympics but many in the Central Asian nation view the bid as yet another vanity project of long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev (inset top right).
Reuters/Kuala Lumpur
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev will leave it to the last minute before deciding whether to embark on what could be a make-or-break trip to Kuala Lumpur this week, as Almaty faces Beijing in a bid to land the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
The host city for those Olympics will be announced on Friday after a vote of International Olympic Committee members in the Malaysian capital. Both cities will be frantically lobbying in the days leading up to the ballot.
“His decision will be tomorrow,” Almaty 2022 bid Vice Chairman Andrey Kryukov told Reuters yesterday. “He was in Geneva for the deal with the World Trade Organisation. So the decision (on him attending or not) will be tomorrow.”
With Beijing favourite, Kazakhstan’s financial capital Almaty is seen to need all the firepower it can muster in its bid to pip the Chinese.
Nazarbayev, president of the country since 1991, is a strong supporter of their bid. Observers view his presence as key.
Top political representation has been crucial in the final presentation to the International Olympic Committee in recent years, as cities bid for the right to stage the world’s biggest winter and summer multi-sports events.
Since 2005 only cities that have had their top politician present at the IOC session have been awarded the Games.
Ten years ago then British Prime Minister Tony Blair swung last-minute votes London’s way with a string of highly persuasive meetings with voting IOC members.
Paris had been the strong frontrunner in the days leading up to that vote for the 2012 Olympic host city.
But Blair’s decision to remain in Singapore until the very last minute, lobbying IOC members - while Jacques Chirac left Singapore to fly to Scotland for a G8 meeting to be hosted by Blair - swung the vote London’s way.
Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped that Singapore vote and Moscow fared poorly, but his presence was crucial in helping rank outsiders Sochi capture the 2014 Winter Games in 2007.
U.S. President Barack Obama turned up to back Chicago’s 2016 Summer Olympics bid at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen, only to see it fail spectacularly in the first round of voting.
He was beaten by then Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula whose last-minute meetings with members was considered crucial for Rio de Janeiro to be picked as the first South American city to be awarded the Olympics.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak played his part in Pyeongchang’s landslide win at the 2011 vote in Durban, South Africa, for the 2016 Winter Games.
Although Beijing, who’s bid is being led by city mayor Wang Anshun, is favourite in this race, little-known Almaty has narrowed the gap in recent weeks following a presentation to the IOC in June.
Some Olympic observers note the race is far from decided with Almaty’s compact bid and natural snow having won over a number of IOC members.
“A president who makes the effort to come to the IOC members and present the city’s bid is always a good thing,” an Olympic source told Reuters. “It can only win votes, it cannot lose any.”
Kryukov will be certain of the on-site backing of Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov, who also heads the Almaty bid.
