As was reported by insidethegames in April, Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov will lead the team working to evaluate the bids from Norway's capital Oslo, the Kazakhstani city of Almaty and China's capital Beijing ahead of the host city election at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 31 next year.

He will be joined on the Evaluation Commission by New Zealand's Barry Maister, who is vice-president of the Oceania National Olympic Committees and an Olympic hockey gold medallist, British Olympian in skeleton Adam Pengilly, who is representing the IOC Athletes' Commission, and Japanese Olympic Committee President and Tokyo 2020 vice-president Tsunekazu Takeda - all are IOC members.

The 2022 Winter Games Evaluation Commission advisors have been named as Canadian Association of National Olympic Committees representative Caroline Assalian, Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations representative Dwight Bell of the United States, International Paralympic Committee representative Rita Van Driel of The Netherlands and Sochi 2014 senior vice-president Tatiana Dobrokhvalova.

Specifically, American Grant Thomas will be the IOC infrastructure advisor, Canadian John Mclaughlin will advise on finance, Briton David Stubbs will advise on sustainability and Canada's Tim Gayda will advise on sport.

Also joining the Commission will be IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi and IOC head of Olympic bid city coordination Jacqueline Barrett.

Tsunekazu Takeda also features as a member of the 2022 Winter Olympic Evaluation Commission ©Getty Images


"Each member of the Commission brings a wide range of expertise and experience and understands what it takes to host a sustainable, well-organised and ultimately successful Olympic Winter Games," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

"At a time where we are finalising our discussions around Olympic Agenda 2020, the upcoming visits of the Evaluation Commission will reflect some of the new orientations that we foresee for the bidding process.

"It is an exciting time for the Olympic Movement, and I rely on the Commission to actively contribute to the shaping of our future."

The IOC also reiterated its estimated contribution of $880 million (£540 million/€690 million) for the 2022 host city and its obligation to determine and communicate to the city at the time of its election the full composition of the Olympic programme.

It also highlighted the introduction of the new wording of a non-discrimination clause relating to the Olympics and its participants - based on fundamental principle six of the Olympic Charter, which has been included as part of the proposed final draft Host City Contract for the Games that was recently sent to the Candidate Cities.

Oslo, Almaty and Beijing now have until January 7 next year to submit their Candidature Files to the IOC.

These will be analysed by the Commission before five-day visits to each city take place between February and March, where they will spend time with the bid teams to examine the 14 themes of the IOC's candidature questionnaire, which includes topics such as vision, legacy and engagement, transport, accommodation, finance and sustainability, and inspect proposed venues.

The Commission will then draw up reports highlighting the risks and opportunities of the Candidate Cities' projects, which will be published ahead of the 2022 briefing for IOC members in June.

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