2012 Games Contenders

LONDON (Reuters) -- Factbox on the applicant cities hoping to become candidates to host the 2012 Summer Olympics after Wednesday's announcement of the final lineup.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide on the venue for the Games in 2005.

The 2008 Games were awarded to Beijing in 2001. The next Summer Games take place in Athens in 2004.

HAVANA

The dark horse of the 2012 race, Cuban capital Havana hopes to land the showcase sporting event by drawing on its strong tradition in amateur sports, particularly boxing.

Cash-strapped communist Cuba, the host of the 1991 Pan American Games, is a long-shot candidate in a strong Olympic field.

Still, though, the bid leaders are bullish. "Cuba has sufficient athletic merits to be the capital selected," Jose Ramon Fernandez, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, said.

"The priority should be athletic merits, not a nation's wealth, or sponsors, or television."

ISTANBUL

Turkey's largest city renews its perennial attempt to host the Olympics. The bid is the fourth attempt Istanbul has made to land the Olympics after unsuccessful tries for 2000, 2004 and 2008.

A finalist to host the 2008 Games, Istanbul has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars building sporting facilities and boosting infrastructure with the hope of one day hosting the lucrative event.

LEIPZIG

The eastern city of Leipzig fought off favorite Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in the German race for the Games.

The only candidate from the former East Germany, if Leipzig was chosen it would be the first time Germany has staged an Olympic Games since the country's unification in 1990.

Rostock, on Germany's Baltic sea coast, won a separate vote as the venue to host the sailing events in the event of Leipzig's bid being successful.

IOC chief Jacques Rogge has said Germany's chances are fundamentally good. "Germany has a stable political system, a stable economy and is a big sports nation with great experience in organising major sports events," he said last September.

Germany last hosted the Summer Games in Munich in 1972. The event was suspended for 34 hours after Palestinian gunmen attacked the athletes' village and 11 Israelis were killed.

LONDON

London's planned site for the Games would regenerate an area of east London.

A government poll showed 81 percent of Britons favor efforts to bring the Games back to London for the first time since 1948. The city also hosted the Olympics in 1908.

Britain has struggled with its image in world sport after being forced to pull out of staging the 2005 world athletics championships because of problems building a stadium in London.

But last year's successful Commonwealth Games in Manchester helped repair the damage.

MADRID

The capital beat Seville in the race to be Spain's bidder. Madrid's only previous attempt at an Olympic bid was for the 1972 Games, which went to Munich.

Madrid is basing this campaign on it being one of the few major European capitals yet to stage an Olympic Games.

Spain was the venue of one of the most successful Olympics of recent times in 1992 when Barcelona won widespread praise for its organization and handling of the Games. The Madrid region has a good transport network and plentiful hotel accommodation.

The organizing committee envisages between 600 and 900 million euros (US$645.6 million and US$968.4 million) will be invested on new sporting infrastructure as part of its bid.

MOSCOW

Moscow hosted the 1980 Games -- the first to be staged by a country with a communist government.

The event was overshadowed by a U.S.-led boycott after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 but IOC chief Rogge has praised the sporting superpower's staging of the Games.

Rogge also said Moscow's theatre siege in which 117 people died last October will not have a negative impact on the Russian capital's bid. Rogge described the bid as "very serious."

"Russia is a great sports country and the 2012 Games in Moscow could be the Olympics for all of Russia," ROC president Leonid Tyagachyov said. "Therefore, we think Moscow has an excellent chance."

NEW YORK CITY

The Big Apple promised triathlon in Central Park and boxing in Madison Square Garden to beat San Francisco in the bid race.

New York's backers made a case for a resilient city recovering from the September 11 attacks but the IOC has said emotions will not play a part in the decision.

One of New York's main selling points is that no venue would be more than 20 miles (32 km) from the Olympic village.

The projected cost of hosting the Games in New York is US$2.7 billion. The city would need to build many of its planned facilities, including an 86,000-seat Olympic stadium.

The United States last hosted a Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 where a bomb killed one person and injured 110.

PARIS

The French capital hesitated about bidding for the 2012 Games after losing the 2008 race to Beijing.

The main aspects of its bid should be the same as its 2008 project. Back then the bidders said Paris would build a 10,000-capacity velodrome and an Olympic swimming pool of similar capacity.

The city's assets are a good public transport network, cultural and tourist attractions and sufficient accommodation.

The city hosted the Summer Games in 1900 and 1924.

France's most recent success on the international sporting stage was the soccer World Cup in 1998, in which Paris played a major part, hosting the final won by France at the Stade de France.

It stages the world athletics championships in August and was recently awarded the 2007 rugby union World Cup.

RIO DE JANEIRO

The picture-postcard tourist mecca of Rio de Janeiro beat industrial powerhouse Sao Paulo earlier this month to become Brazil's candidate to host the 2012 Olympics.

Rio, which made a failed bid to host the 2004 Olympics, will now be making a new jab at bringing the summer Games to South America for the first time in its 107-year history.

In the last bid, Rio tried to convince Olympic organizers to overlook soaring crime rates, pollution and heavy traffic.

This time, Rio Mayor Luiz Paulo Conde said the city was drafting a plan to improve metro, train and road networks in infrastructure projects enhancing the whole city.

Brazil has not hosted a major sports event since the 1950 World Cup. Rio is already investing heavily in sports venues for the 2007 Pan-American Games, which would be used in the Olympics.

 

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