By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Lausanne, Switzerland (SportsNetwork.com) - Oslo, Stockholm and Beijing are among six cities that will bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Joining the previous Olympic hosts from Norway, Sweden and China will be Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; and Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The six bid cities are twice more than the three that officially bid for the 2018 Games, which were awarded to PyeongChang, South Korea.
"I am delighted that six cities are bidding to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games," said new International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. "These cities and their supporters clearly understand the benefits that hosting the Games can have and the long lasting legacy that a Games can bring to a region."
Bach's own country, Germany, decided against launching a bid for Munich, which lost out on the 2018 Games and was the host of the 1972 Summer Olympics. St. Moritz, which previously hosted Winter Games in 1928 and 1948, also bowed out earlier this year.
Oslo hosted the 1952 Winter Games, while Stockholm was the Summer Games site in 1912 and Beijing held the 2008 Summer Games.
Next up for the six applicant cities is a long process that starts with seminar next month in Lausanne, followed by an observation program at the Sochi Games in February.
The IOC will then select official candidate cities next July. Those cities will then be evaluated by the IOC before an election of the host city takes place in July 2015.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/six-cities-will-bid-for-2022-olympics