Layout of Olympic venues presented in Almaty

The International Olympic Committee will decide on the host city of the Winter Olympics 2022 in July. But Almaty has already started planning the use of the existing sports venues for the Olympics and the construction of new buildings for the biggest sports event in the world.

The Akimat of Almaty (municipal authorities) has unveiled a draft layout of the Olympic venues, Tengrinews reports citing Almaty.tv. All of the venues will be situated within the 30 km radius from the Olympic City. The Olympic City will be constructed 15 minutes drive from the Republic Square that will be used for the award ceremonies.

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics will be held at the Central Stadium. The Olympic City will include the Olympic Village for 5,500 people, international media centers, a number of hotels for the media and representatives of the IOC, the Olympic Ice Arena for 12,000 seats as well as the Curling Arena for 3000 seats that is currently under construction for the upcoming Universiade.

Three Olympic venues will be situated in the Southern part of Almaty: Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex, Central Stadium for 22 000 seats and Baluan Sholak’s Sports Palace for 5000 seats. The International Ski Federation has already approved the ski jumping track at Sunkar for the 2.5 km skiing biathlon. A center with a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track will be constructed near Sunkar and the Center for Skiing Biathlon. The construction of the new Ice Palace for the Olympics for 12 000 seats has already began in the Western part of Almaty. The Ice Palace will be situated close to the Olympic Village. The venue will host competitions in hockey.

The ice-skating rink Medeo, Tabagan and Ak Bulak skiing resorts will also be used during the Olympic Games. The Akimat plans to build a roof over Medeo skating rink and increase the capacity of the stadium to 6000 seats. Shymbulak Skiing Resort will host speed skiing competitions. Competitions in slalom and giant slalom will take place at Tabagan, while Ak Bulak will host competitions in biathlon and cross-country skiing. In addition, it is planned to build additional Olympic Villages near Medeo and Shymbulak Skiing Resort for 1000 people and near Ak Bulak resort for 1060 people.

The Akimat of the city sees the Olympics in 2022 as a win-win for everyone. “We think that choosing Almaty for the 2022 games will be a win-win situation for everyone because the plan we have is simple and easy to implement thanks to our already existing sports venues,” Zauresh Amanzholova of the Akimat administration said.

The benefits of hosting the Winter Olympics in 2022 in Almaty are the well-developed infrastructure and proximity of 14 sports venues to the proposed Olympic village. 8 sports venues that make 60% of the required number of venues for the Olympics have already been successfully used for various events. Moreover, three more venues are currently under construction for the upcoming Universiade in 2017. Earlier, the IOC announced it wanted Olympic hosts to use more existing facilities and share events with other cities if necessary.

By Guyzel Kamalova