By Zjan Shirinian



Oslo has withdrawn its bid to stage the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games after the Norwegian Government's majority Conservative Party could not agree on supporting it.



IOC President Thomas Bach, pictured here arriving for a meeting with Norwegian Culture Minister Thorhild Widvey, visited Oslo in May at a time when the city's 2022 bid was under close scrutiny ©Getty Images





Oslo 2022 was confirmed as a candidate city in July, but its bid, like that of Kraków's and Stockholm's, is dead ©Oslo 2022





Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported the Parliamentary group was split roughly down the middle in its support for a bid.Backing for Oslo 2022 was assessed during a three-and-a-half hour meeting, with members asked whether they wanted to support a Government guarantee for Oslo's application to stage the Games.Oslo Municipality reacted by pulling its application for the Government guarantee, the final act of a bid that is now dead."Oslo 2022 is a project that has had overwhelming support in the City Council and which has received the endorsement of the city's population through the local referendum in 2013, I had hoped for a different result tonight and of course [I am] disappointed," said Stian Berger Røsland, Governing Mayor of Oslo and leader of the bid."But the plans we have developed to build the town further up until 2022 and afterwards, we will implement."The axing of Olso's bid means there are now only two runners in the 2002 race: Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty and Chinese capital Beijing.Before the Oslo Municipality's announcement, Parliamentary leader Trond Helland and faction leader Svein Harberg told the media they expected Norway's Government to put a stop to the capital's bid to stage the Games.Helland said: "There has been a desire of many to influence the International Olympic Committee to get [a] sober Olympics," reported Aftenposten."When the group is still so split down the middle, we choose to stop the process."The right wing Progress Party, a junior coalition partner in Norway's Government, voted against going ahead with the bid in May.It claimed hosting the Olympics and Paralympics would be too costly and could cause funds to be stripped back from other areas, including healthcare and education.In March, politicians in Norway drew up a list of demands to be met for a bid to go ahead, including a respect for human rights, a workers' charter and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) paying its own costs.With politicians unwilling to commit their support for Oslo 2022, public opposition has grown louder.One poll this summer suggested only three out of every 10 Norwegians supported the bid.