NBC News – The International Olympic Committee on Friday selected Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Games, making it the first city ever to host both a summer and winter Olympics.
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Beijing was competing against Kazakhstan's Almaty for the event. Oslo was initially named a finalist, but its Olympic bid was withdrawn after the Norwegian government voted against financially supporting it.
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Kazakhstan had never hosted an Olympics, while Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games.
Both the Almaty and Bejing bids drew drawn criticism from human-rights groups.
Human Rights Watch has cited violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face in Kazakhstan, according to the AP, while activists say China's human-rights record worsened rather than improved after the 2008 Olympics.
In addition to voting on the 2022 Winter Games host city, IOC delegates also selected Switzerland's city of Lausanne to host 2020 Youth Games.