Almaty 2014 ( kk, Алматы 2014) was one of the seven original bids for the 2014 Games, presented by the city of Almaty,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It was the city's first bid for an Olympic Games.

Bid details

Government and public support and legal issues

All of the associated public authorities in

, at national, regional and local tiers, supported the bid, including the President of Kazakhstan,

Nursultan Nazarbaev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

. 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. The

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

gave the city a minimum grade of 4.7 and a maximum grade of 5.9 for this criterion, the second lowest after

Borjomi Borjomi ( ka, ბორჯომი) is a resort town in south-central Georgia, 160 km from Tbilisi, with a population of 11,122 (2021). It is one of the municipalities of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region and is situated in the northwestern ...

and below the required grade of a 6.

General infrastructure

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 Almaty International Airport ( kk, Halyqaralyq Almaty Äuejaiy) is a major international airport northeast of Almaty, the largest city and commercial capital of Kazakhstan. It is the busiest airport in Kazakhstan, accounting for 6.42 million ...

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 Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Sports Venues

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.

Olympic Villages

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 The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

athletes. Both the villages were proposed to be built as a joint venture between the cities of Almaty and

Talgar Talgar ( kk, Талғар, translit=Talğar, ; russian: Талгар) is a town in Almaty Region, southeastern Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Talgar District. The town is located between Almaty and Esik, 25 km from Almaty an ...

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

Environmental conditions and impact

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 Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different typ ...

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 Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ...

and Pyeongchang.

Accommodation

Almaty's 4029 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 Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and

Transport

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.

References

{{Bids for the 2014 Winter Olympics Sport in Kazakhstan 2014 Winter Olympics bids