LAUSANNE (REUTERS) - Oslo, Almaty and Beijing were confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the official candidates to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Monday.

"The IOC executive board has selected the cities of Oslo, Almaty and Beijing as candidate cities for the Olympic Winter Games 2022," IOC president Thomas Bach told a news conference.

"The IOC is very happy to see three very different approaches with regard to the organisation of the Games. This gives the IOC a choice between three diverse bids, with different legacy plans, with different approaches, with different budgets."

Stockholm, Krakow and Lviv had also submitted bids to the IOC but all three later withdrew.