Stockholm submits bid to host 2022 Winter Olympics

STOCKHOLM - Stockholm entered the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics on yesterday, submitting a bid that includes plans to host Alpine skiing events more than 400 miles away in the northern Swedish ski resort of Are.

The Swedish Olympic Committee delivered the bid to the International Olympic Committee, three days before the deadline.

"We could give the world an exciting and original project that would be both spectacular and brings winter sports into the city in a unique way," the Swedish committee said in a statement.

Stockholm hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics, as well as the equestrian competition of the1952 Melbourne Games. Stockholm joins another Scandinavian city, the Norwegian capital of Oslo, in the 2022 race.

The Swedish committee said the games would be an urban event, with the majority of sports hosted in the capital. Four Alpine ski competitions — downhill, giant slalom, super G and the combined — would be held in Are.

A review of the conditions to host the games concluded that existing venues have enough capacity to hold most events. One of the biggest planned investments would be to raise the height of an existing ski slope in Stockholm by 330 feet to meet the criteria to host the slalom.

The committee will continue to investigate the financial and technical conditions and submit a final application to the IOC on March 14.

Six candidates are now in the running for the 2022 Games, with the IOC to select the winner in 2015. In addition to Stockholm and Oslo, they are: Lviv, Ukraine; Beijing and the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and a joint bid from Krakow, Poland, and Jasna, Slovakia.

On Sunday, voters in Germany rejected plans for Munich to bid for the games. Opponents were concerned about environmental issues and high costs.

In March, another potential European favorite was rejected in a referendum. Switzerland dropped its candidacy from St. Moritz, the 1928 and '48 host, when voters in the region refused to support it amid concerns over cost and disruption.