PARIS, 16 July 2003 — Nine cities take their first official step toward hosting the 2012 Olympics yesterday when they submit their bids to the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne.
However the IOC said it would not announce the final list of bidding cities, who had to depose a check for $100,000, until today.
The nine cities who have announced their bids are Rio de Janeiro, Paris, London, New York, Madrid, Moscow, the German city of Leipzig, Istanbul and Havana.
Toronto has failed to announce a bid since Vancouver clinched the vote for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Paris and London are regarded as the favorites but IOC President Jacques Rogge said last week that Vancouver’s victory in the 2010 Winter Games campaign did not automatically preclude New York from staging the 2012 Summer Games.
Rogge disputes the theory that IOC decisions on host cities are driven by geographical rotation. Observers believe that giving the 2010 games to Vancouver bolsters Europe’s chances for 2012 because of a reluctance to give back-to-back Olympics to North America. The IOC will make their choice in Singapore on July 6 2005.
Rogge has revealed that the field is so strong the IOC might not be able to reduce the number of candidates before the vote in Singapore.
