Almaty 2014
(
Kazakh
:
Алматы 2014
) was one of the
seven original bids
for
the 2014 Games
, presented by the city of
Almaty
,
Kazakhstan
. It was the city's first bid for an Olympic Games.
[1]
Bid details
[
edit
]
Government and public support and legal issues
[
edit
]
All of the associated public authorities in
Kazakhstan
, at national, regional and local tiers, supported the bid, including the President of Kazakhstan,
Nursultan Nazarbaev
. The bid committee confirmed that no new laws or amendments were needed in order to host the Games. Public support was high, with 82.8% of people in Almaty city, 93.5% in the Almaty region and 84.9% nationally saying they would support the bid.
[2]
The
IOC
gave the city a minimum grade of 4.7 and a maximum grade of 5.9 for this criterion, the second lowest after
Borjomi
and below the required grade of a 6.
[3]
General infrastructure
[
edit
]
The planned improvement to transport included new
subway
and
light rail
lines, a new city
ring-road
and additional roads connecting venues. These proposed improvements would cost a total of $8.7 billion with 93% of the cost in the expansion of the railways.
Almaty International Airport
was to be doubled in capacity and was assessed as being able to meet the needs of the Winter Olympics. Almaty's telecommunications network, however, was classed as "less advanced" according to an IOC commissioned
IDATE
report.
The IOC gave the city a minimum grade of 6.3 and a maximum of 7.9 for this criterion, the second best after
Salzburg
.
[3]
Sports Venues
[
edit
]
Almaty had six existing venues, with 8 other planned sites. The upgrade of the existing venues alone was estimated to cost $353 million but the bid showed this as part of the post-Olympic legacy and aimed to become a "new winter sports destination for Central Asia".
The IOC gave the city a minimum grade of 4.7 and a maximum of 6.9 for this criterion, below the required grade of a 6.
[3]
Olympic Villages
[
edit
]
The Almaty bid consisted of two Olympic Villages, 45 km apart: one in Almaty with 5000 beds, the other in the
Soldatskoe Valley
with 800 beds and meant only to house the
cross-country
and
biathlon
athletes. Both the villages were proposed to be built as a joint venture between the cities of Almaty and
Talgar
and private firms. After the Games, the apartments at the Almaty Village would be sold to public buyers and those in the Soldatskoe Valley Village retained to provide additional tourist accommodation at the existing ski resort.
Almaty scored a minimum of 6.5 and maximum of 8.0 for this criterion, coming third behind
Sochi
and
Salzburg
.
[3]
Environmental conditions and impact
[
edit
]
Almaty's bid proposed the use of the nearby
Zailiskii Alatau mountains
, where snowy conditions are consistent and stable. The bid also sought to combat the
air pollution
around the city, halving it by 2010 and 15% of the total venue budget would be spent on environmental and sustainability efforts.
The IOC awarded the city a minimum grade of 4.9 and maximum of 6.6 for this criterion, placing it equal with
Sochi
but behind
Jaca
,
Salzburg
and
Pyeongchang
.
[3]
Accommodation
[
edit
]
Almaty's 4,029 existing hotel rooms at the time, were not enough for an Olympic Games. In order to increase the capacity sufficiently, the bid planned the construction of 14172 extra hotel rooms as well as a media village of 10000 rooms. Both the bid committee and the IOC recognised that the increase would be a challenge to complete on time.
The IOC gave Almaty a minimum score of 4.9 and a maximum score of 5.9 for this criterion, both of which are below the required grade of a 6. Almaty ranked fourth on accommodation, above
Sofia
,
Borjomi
and
Jaca
.
[3]
Transport
[
edit
]
Almaty's transport concept for the Games was praised by the IOC for being "simple" and "coherent", with the travel times between venues and the Olympic Park relatively short, thanks to the efficient road and rail networks.
Almaty was awarded a minimum grade of 7.6 and a maximum of 8.8, placing it above every other applicant city.
[3]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Elected city
| |
---|
Candidate cities
| |
---|
Applicant cities
| |
---|