Both event hosts were decided during the 128th IOC Session held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Beijing beat out the other bid from Almaty, Kazakhstan, by a close vote of 44-40.
"I congratulate Beijing on becoming the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Games, and congratulations to Almaty for putting forth an excellent bid," said IIHF President and IOC Executive Board member René Fasel.
"Both bids were very strong but I am happy to see Beijing as the 2022 host because it gives the IIHF a great platform to promote the sport of ice hockey in Asia. Now with the next two Winter Olympics taking place in Korea and China, we have a tremendous opportunity to open up new horizons for our sport and to showcase ice hockey to a new generation.”
Beijing’s successful bid makes the city the first in history to host both a Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
“Thanks to China’s previous Olympic Games, we saw a surge in summer sports,” said Chinese Olympic Committee President Liu Peng. “Now winter sports is sweeping our nation, we have 17 ice rinks open year-round in Beijing and more than 1 million teenagers skate regularly.”
Though it has never hosted a Winter Olympics, China has in the past held other winter events including the Asian Winter Games (1996 and 2000) and the Winter Universiade (Harbin 2009).
An IIHF member since 1963, the status of China’s ice hockey teams regarding automatic host qualification is still to be determined. The men’s team has yet to qualify for an Olympic tournament, but the women’s team participated in three Winter Games in 1998, 2002, and most recently Vancouver 2010. The nation’s best result came in Nagano 1998, when the team put up big wins over Japan and Sweden in the first round, but ultimately lost 4-1 to Finland in the bronze medal game and finished in fourth place.
China’s men’s national team is 38th in the IIHF World Ranking, while the women’s team is 16th.
The Chinese presentation featured a number of sports stars such as Olympic bid Ambassador and former basketball star Yao Ming, who was shown in a video putting on pads and playing goaltender for a group of young Chinese players.
"In the 2008 Games, I played with the Chinese national team at the Wukesong Arena," said Yao. "In Beijing 2022's plan, Wukesong will host ice hockey. I look forward to seeing a new chapter in the legacy of the Olympic Games as Wukesong is covered in ice."
Andong Song, the first Chinese-born player to be drafted by the National Hockey League, was briefly introduced to the Congress by Yao. The Beijing-born forward was described as a positive example of the potential for Chinese ice hockey to grow and develop successfully.
According to the IOC Evaluation Commission report released last month, Beijing is aiming to provide an extended legacy for venues built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It wants to develop a winter sports market for northern China with 300 million inhabitants and use the Winter Games to act as a catalyst for the further development of the tourism and winter sports industry.
Men’s and women’s ice hockey will both take place near the Olympic Park in Beijing . The men’s tournament will be held in the National Indoor Stadium (18,000 capacity) and the women’s tournament at the aforementioned Wukesong Sports Centre (9,000 capacity).
In other Olympic news, the 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games were awarded to Lausanne, Switzerland. This will be the third-ever Youth Olympic Winter Games to be held in history, and the first time that this event will take place in Switzerland, the home of both the IIHF and the IOC.
Lausanne will follow up next year’s Winter Youth Olympics taking place in Lillehammer, Norway, which will feature three ice hockey events: a men’s and women’s ice hockey tournament and a skills challenge competition.
ADAM STEISS IIHF