Washington: The US Department of State has congratulated China's capital city Beijing on winning the bid for 2022 Winter Olympics, a media report said.
"We obviously congratulate Beijing on winning the bid for the Winter Olympics," Mark Toner, US Department of State spokesman told reporters on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
"You know, they have hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 and did so successfully. We believe they are capable of doing so in the winter as well," Toner said.
Meanwhile, Beijing has won the vote to host the 2022 winter Olympics despite having no natural snow.
The Chinese capital will become the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympics after beating Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the vote at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
Beijing will host the winter Olympics 14 years after the 2008 summer Games was held there but the vote was much closer than expected - Beijing winning by 44 votes to 40.
The victory will once more focus attention on China's human rights record, as well as the country's heavy reliance on artificial snow.
The campaign group Human Rights Watch said the IOC faces "massive challenges" in fulfilling its commitment to human rights following Beijing's selection. The 2008 Games saw protesters arrested in Beijing and the international Olympic torch relay affected by demonstrations.
"The Olympic motto of 'higher, faster, and stronger' is a perfect description of the Chinese government's assault on civil society: more peaceful activists detained in record time, subject to far harsher treatment," said Sophie Richardson, China director.
"In choosing China to host another Games, the IOC has tripped on a major human rights hurdle."
The contest for 2022 was more remarkable for those cities that dropped out of the running - Stockholm, Oslo, Krakow and Lviv were all put off by the potential cost of the Games after the total bill for the Sochi 2014 Games in Russia came to 51billion US dollars (£32.5billion). Beijing has promised a far less costly Games with the organising committee's budget being put at £1billion with a similar-sized infrastructure budget.
Lizzy Yarnold, who won gold for Britain in the skeleton in 2014, also raised the issue of human rights.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live : "I do hope the IOC take the human rights issues into consideration and make sure there is an actual change for the better."
Beijing will use some venues from the 2008 summer Olympics and will have mountain events up to 90 miles away from the city. Yarnold also warned that artificial snow creates different demands to real snow.
She added: "I know Beijing is a relatively warm place, and with the snow sports it [artificial snow] does make a huge difference - it impacts the speed and they need to take that into consideration when designing the venues.
"The venues will need to be technically excellent, need to be Olympic standard and I hope the IOC are going to make sure everything is ready."
The secret ballot involved 86 IOC members and followed final presentations by the two rivals.
The Beijing 2022 bid committee said in a statement: "We are honoured and humbled by the IOC's decision to award Beijing the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic winter Games. It is with an incredible sense of excitement that we express our thanks to the IOC and the wider Olympic Movement.
"Just as with the Beijing 2008 summer Games, the Olympic family has put its faith in Beijing again to deliver the athlete-centred, sustainable and economical Games we have promised. This will be a memorable event at the foot of the Great Wall for the whole Olympic family, the athletes and the spectators that will further enhance the tremendous potential to grow winter sports in our country, in Asia and around the world.
"We would like to congratulate Almaty 2022 for their campaign. We wish to thank once again all the Chinese people and people around the world who have supported Beijing 2022 in this extraordinary bid journey. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our devoted athlete ambassadors, experts and all who contributed to this victory."
