Election of the 2014 Host City
On 4 July 2007, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, announced Sochi as the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games to be held in 2014. This announcement was the culmination of a two-year process, which the IOC has developed over a number of years to ensure that the city that is elected is capable of hosting the Games and that the process is transparent for all involved. Here is a brief recap of how the decision was reached.
Applicant Cities
A total of seven cities endorsed by their National Olympic Committees (NOCs) submitted their applications to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014. These cities, in order of the drawing of lots, were: Sochi (RUS), Salzburg (AUT), Jaca (ESP), Almaty (KAZ), PyeongChang (KOR), Sofia (BUL) and Borjomi (GEO) . These cities all responded to the IOC’s Applicant City Questionnaire, which was then studied by an IOC working group before a report was submitted to the IOC Executive Board.
Candidate Cities
On 22 June 2006, the IOC Executive Board accepted the following cities as Candidate Cities to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 (in order of the drawing of lots): Sochi (Russian Federation), Salzburg (Austria) and PyeongChang (Republic of Korea) . The Candidate Cities had until 10 January 2007 to submit their Candidature File to the IOC. The Candidature Files were analysed in detail by the IOC Evaluation Commission and followed up by the visits of the Commission to all the Candidate Cities.
Evaluation Commission
In September 2006, President Rogge announced the composition of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2014 Games. Led by Chiharu Igaya (JPN) , IOC Vice-President, the Commission was composed of representatives of the Olympic Movement and a number of technical advisors. The Commission visited each of the Candidate Cities on the following dates:
PyeongChang: 14-17 February 2007
Sochi: 20-23 February 2007
Salzburg: 14-17 March 2007
Following these visits, the Commission produced the IOC Evaluation Commission report, which is a technical appraisal of each city’s bid. The report was made public and distributed to the IOC members in June 2007.
119th IOC Session in Guatemala
The culmination of the bid process was the meeting of the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala. The cities each had 45 minutes to give a presentation to the Session, followed by 15 minutes for questions. Following the presentations by the cities, the Chair of the Evaluation Commission, Chiharu Igaya, addressed the Session on behalf of the Commission. The IOC members then proceeded with the vote and elected Sochi as the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games. The National Olympic Committee of Russia and the city of Sochi then signed the Host City Contract with the IOC.
The Vote Regulations
All eligible IOC members are asked to vote for the host city election. In each round, each participating IOC member may vote for only one city. As per the voting regulations, only those IOC members who are not nationals of countries for which there is a candidate city in a round are permitted to vote. The votes of members not taking part in a round of voting or who abstain, as well as invalid electronic voting entries, are not taken into account in the calculation of the required majority. If, after the first round of voting, no city obtains the absolute majority of the votes cast, as many rounds are held as necessary for a city to obtain such majority. The city receiving the least number of votes leaves the competition. The name of this city is made public straight away and the vote continues. If only two cities remain in contention, the one that obtains the greatest number of votes is elected. The winning city is then announced by the IOC President at the Announcement Ceremony, following which the newly elected NOC and city will sign the Host City Contract.
Election Results
Round 1
Sochi: 34 / Salzburg: 25 / PyeongChang: 36
Round 2
Sochi: 51 / PyeongChang: 47