Lausanne, Switzerland – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board determined the following cities have been accepted as candidate cities to host the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008: Beijing, Istanbul, Osaka, Paris, and Toronto.
Eliminated from the race were Bangkok, Thailand; Cairo, Egypt; Havana; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Seville, Spain.
The cutoff came 10½ months before the full IOC selects the 2008 host city at its session in Moscow in July 2001. The IOC said Beijing, Osaka, Paris and Toronto reached an overall grade above the established benchmark for Olympic bid cities.
The board also accepted a recommendation of a working group to include Istanbul, making a third consecutive bid, as a fifth candidate.An analysis report was developed by a working group composed of external specialists in key areas of Games organization, members of the IOC administration who coordinate aspects of the Games, and representatives of the athletes, the NOCs, the International Olympic Sports Federations (IFs), and past Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs).
The Working Group concluded that four cities, namely Beijing, Osaka, Paris, and Toronto, had reached an overall grade above the established benchmark. The EB accepted the conclusion of the working group to name as candidates the above four cities and decided to include Istanbul as the fifth. ude cities from Asia, Europe and North America.
IOC executive Jacques Rogge said Beijing, Paris, Toronto and Osaka were approved unanimously, while Istanbul made the cut by a majority vote. There was no ranking system, he said. The four cities were above the bar. Istanbul was just under the bar. The executive said, “We can push it over.”
The new candidate acceptance procedure was introduced as part of the reforms adopted by the IOC last year following the bribery scandal centering on Salt Lake Citys winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games. The process is designed to save money, weed out no-hopers and prevent a repetition of the payoffs and favors exposed by the Salt Lake affair.
Gifts and member visits to bid cities are prohibited under the new system. The cities went through a preliminary screening process to determine whether they met the minimum organizational requirements for staging the Olympics. The IOC will appoint an evaluation commission to visit the sites and assess their capabilities.
The IOC executive board also gave final approval to introducing tests for the banned drug erythropoietin, or EPO, at the upcoming Sydney Games. The EPO tests were endorsed Sunday by the IOC legal commission, which recommended their final approval Monday by the executive board.
A combined urine and blood test for EPO was backed earlier this month by the IOC medical commission and outside scientific experts. But final authorization was required by the legal commission and executive board.
IOC medical commission chairman Prince Alexandre de Merode said at least 400 EPO tests will be conducted from Sept. 2, the day the athletes village opens in Sydney, until the close of the games on Oct. 1. In addition, 3,400 standard urine tests will be carried out, he said.
I think [the EPO test] will be a very good impact on the many athletes who do not cheat, IOC vice president Kevan Gosper of Australia said. For those who do cheat, I hope it scares the heck out of them. EPO, the drug at the heart of the Tour de France doping scandal in 1998, is believed to be widely used by athletes in endurance events such as long-distance running, swimming and cycling.
Injected in synthetic form, EPO enhances stamina by increasing the number of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the muscles. Experts say it can improve performance by up to 15 percent. French researchers developed a urine test that can provide direct proof of EPO use, while Australian scientists devised a blood test, which offers indirect evidence.
In Sydney, an athlete will be considered guilty of EPO use only if both tests are positive. In addition to the EPO tests, the new World Anti-Doping Agency is conducting around 2,000 unannounced, out-of-competition tests before the Sydney Games. All 28 Olympic sports federations have signed up for the tests.
For many, Toronto, which lost previously to Atlanta for the 1996 Games, is widely considered the city to beat. Toronto has an efficient” public transport system, environment-friendly technology and “Good experience” of hosting international tournaments. This modern, cosmopolitan North-American city offers a vast, untapped market for the Olympics.
