Bids for the 2014 Winter Olympics Bids for the 2014 Winter Olympics Seven applicant cities presented bids to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics (formally known as "XXII Olympic Winter Games" and "XI Paralympic Winter Games") to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC Executive Board shortlisted three cities—Sochi, Russia; Salzburg, Austria; and Pyeongchang, South Korea—with Sochi winning the IOC's July 2007 final vote. The three selected candidates, chosen on 22 June 2006, delivered to the IOC their Candidature Files (known as "bid books") on 10 January 2007. From February to April 2007, an ad hoc committee performed visits to the candidate cities and prepared
Olympic Games by 44 cities in 23 countries, but by cities outside Europe and North America on only eight occasions. Since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the Olympics have been held in Asia or Oceania four times, a sharp increase compared to the previous 92 years of modern Olympic history. The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro were the first Olympics for a South American country. No bids from countries in Africa have succeeded. The United States has hosted eight Olympic Games, four Summer and four Winter, more than any other nation. The British capital London holds the distinction