--FILE--Night view of the Beijing National Stadium, right, also known as the Bird's Nest, and the Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, in the Olympic Green in Beijing, China, 9 January 2015. Beijing was selected Friday (31 July 2015) to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city awarded both the winter and summer games. Beijing narrowly defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a vote of the International Olympic Committee. The Chinese capital, which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, came in to the vote as the strong favorite, despite its lack of natural snow. Beijing plans to use several venues from the 2008 Olympics, including the "Bird's Nest" stadium and "Water Cube" arena. But the snow and sliding events would be at venues in Yangqing and Zhangjiakou, 60 and 140 kilometers (40 and 90 miles) outside Beijing. A planned high-speed rail line to Zhangjiakou is supposed to cut travel time to 50 minutes.
