By Nick Butler

Almaty 2022 have launched an official Twitter page ahead of the Evaluation Commission inspection ©Almaty 2022Almaty 2022 has launched its official Twitter account to raise publicity with just one week to go until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission are due to visit for a five-day inspection.


Almaty is widely seen as the outsider behind favoured contender Beijing in what has become a two-horse race to host the Games following the withdrawal of all four European contenders - Kraków, Lviv, Oslo and Stockholm - last year.

But, with a weakness being a perceived lack of interest in its bid, both internationally and within Kazakhstan, making greater effort to utilise social media is an obvious area to enable improvement, with the new account accessible here. 

"We are going to use our Twitter account to provide a 'window' to our Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bid," said Almaty 2022 Executive Board member Andrey Kryukov.

"We intend to use our Twitter account not simply to share information, but to engage the members of the Olympic family, the athletes, and fans in a discussion about the vision - Keeping it Real - of our Olympic and Paralympic bid, sport and Olympism in general.

"We intend to inform but we are also eager to listen."

Almaty 2022s freshly launched Twitter page ©Almaty 2022Almaty 2022's freshly launched Twitter page ©Almaty 2022






The IOC Evaluation Commission, chaired by Russian IOC member Alexander Zhukov, are scheduled to make an on-site inspections of Almaty from February 14 to 18 before paying a similar visit to Beijing from March 24 to 28.

A final decision is then due to be made at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31.

Beijing is also making use of social media, with its Twitter account accessible here, with raising the profile of winter sport across China also a key challenge.

Both bids will also be keen to demonstrate to the IOC their ability to communicate well, with social media a key component of the success of recent Games, including London 2012, Sochi 2014 and especially last Summer's Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

"We will be providing rich multimedia content from our exciting journey all the way to the IOC's final decision for the Host City of the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Kuala Lumpur," added Kryukov.

"We would like to welcome sports fans around the world to join us."