Beijing was awarded the hosting rights to the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, setting up the Chinese capital to become the first city in history to stage both the Summer and Winter Games.
Members of the International Olympic Committee, which is holding its annual congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, voted in favor of Beijing over its lone competitor, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The outcome was 44 to 40, a margin that was far smaller than many observers had predicted given the success of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and the relative anonymity of Almaty in the sporting community.