Kazakh PM hints at another Olympic run after narrow loss

By Karolos Grohmann KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Almaty could consider another Olympic bid campaign after narrowly losing out to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Massimov hinted on Friday. Almaty was defeated by four votes in the International Olympic Committee vote in Kuala Lumpur, with Beijing garnering 44 and Kazakhstan's largest city ending up with 40 votes. "This is a very good opportunity and a very good experience to participate in some other bid in the future," Massimov told Reuters minutes after the loss as he left the presentation hall in the Malaysian capital. Massimov's presentation earlier on Friday in front of the IOC was widely praised as outstanding and the narrow margin of the defeat, which many observers had not expected, showed Almaty had made more friends within the IOC than previously thought. Beijing had been the front-runner in the race with Almaty closing the gap in the past weeks with a series of positively received presentations. "I certainly hope we will see Almaty back," IOC Vice-President John Coates told Reuters. "They had a very good bid." Almaty's compact concept with all the venues within a 35km radius and with the snow-capped mountains hugging the city, stood in stark contrast to Beijing's plan of ice sports in the city and sliding and skiing events well away at mountain venues. Those venues, the IOC has said, saw minimal annual snowfall that would see them rely almost entirely on snow-making machines and would not have a winter sports destination feel. "I think Almaty's presentation was outstanding and their Prime Minister? What can I say. Just a super star," IOC Vice-President Craig Reedie said. (Editing by John O'Brien)