Posted on 05/18/2004 12:19:51 AM PDT by El Conservador
LAUSANNE, Switzerland - New York bid leader Dan Doctoroff showed no signs of nerves as he awaited Tuesday's selection of the finalists vying to host the 2012 Olympics.
With nine cities in the running, the International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) executive board is expected to keep as many as six candidates and as few as four.
"I've heard everything from A to Z," Doctoroff said, calmly surveying the lobby scene Monday in a busy Olympic convention hall. "I've heard everything from four to nine. Nobody seems to know what's going to happen. I'm not going to worry about it."
He doesn't need to.
New York is one of four cities virtually assured of making the cut, along with Paris, London and Madrid, Spain.
Havana definitely won't make the list. That leaves four cities on the bubble: Moscow; Istanbul, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Leipzig, Germany. Leipzig and Istanbul appear to be the least likely of surviving.
The decision will kick off a 14-month race culminating with the selection of the host city by the full IOC assembly in Singapore in July 2005.
Paris, which last hosted the Olympics in 1924, is viewed as the front-runner. The French capital successfully hosted soccer's World Cup in 1998, and it is seen by IOC members as having paid its dues after failed bids for the 1992 and 2008 Olympics. London is considered the main challenger.
New York has to contend with anti-American sentiment fueled by the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites), as well as the geographical disadvantage of having the 2010 Winter Olympics (news - web sites) in Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia). The IOC is reluctant to award consecutive Olympics to the same continent.
Tuesday's cut will be based largely on a report prepared by a working group, headed by executive director Gilbert Felli, analyzing the technical criteria of each city. The confidential report was only given to the board members late Monday.
"I have no clue, I have no idea," Dutch IOC member Hein Verbruggen said. "I think it's one of the best-kept secrets I have ever witnessed. I have heard absolutely nothing and I think that's a very good thing."
Verbruggen and others said a smaller number will make it easier for an IOC evaluation commission to visit the cities next year and compile a thorough report on the bids before the Singapore meeting. Since the Salt Lake City bid scandal, IOC members are banned from visiting bid cities.
"Four cities would be a brave decision and six might be a practical alternative," said British IOC member Craig Reedie, who was part of the 2008 evaluation process.
Meanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge opened Monday's meetings by declaring that none of the 28 summer sports will be dropped from the Olympic program before the 2012 games. The assurance came as a relief to baseball, softball and modern pentathlon, which had feared being excluded for 2008.
Rogge said the only exception would be if a sports federation is guilty of serious ethical violations or fails to uphold global anti-doping rules.
The IOC will review all the sports after this summer's Athens Olympics and decide on the program for 2012 at the Singapore session next year.
Baseball, softball and modern pentathlon had been recommended for exclusion by an IOC panel in 2002. They won a reprieve, but Rogge had said they could still be dropped for Beijing.
"I wish they had done this two years ago," said Don Porter, the American president of the international softball federation. "We've been on pins and needles ever since. This gives us more time to develop our sport."
Added Aldo Notari, the Italian head of the International Baseball Federation: "We'll be sleeping better for the next few nights."
Baseball does not send its top U.S.-based professionals to the Olympics. The Olympics are played during the major league season, and commissioner Bud Selig said it is impossible to stop the season to allow players to join Olympic teams.
"If the best players don't go to Beijing, then comes the danger," Notari said. "Major League Baseball understands the problem and is working together with us."
In other developments:
_ Ruben Acosta, president of the international volleyball federation, resigned as an IOC member.
Acosta, of Mexico, said he was leaving the IOC immediately because of an ethics dispute with the committee and to avoid further conflict before the Athens Olympics.
The announcement came two days before the IOC ethics commission is due to report on allegations that Acosta misused Olympic funds. A Swiss court also is investigating.
Acosta, who has denied any wrongdoing, said he will remain as president of the volleyball federation, FIVB.
_ The IOC board cleared the way for transsexuals to compete in the Olympics for the first time.
Athletes who have undergone sex-change surgery will be eligible if their new gender has been legally recognized and they have gone through a minimum two-year period of postoperative hormone therapy.
The decision, which covers both male-to-female and female-to-male cases, goes into effect starting with the Athens Games.
IOW, they hate us, and they'll go to great extents to screw us. If they give the games to Paris, we should boycott those games hard: Athletes, sponsors, tourists. The whole she-bang.
The US has had it TWICE recently anyway - LA and Atlanta. COME ON LONDON!!!!!!!!! LONDON, LONDON, LONDON.
I'd vote for Paris. London has better things to spend money on.
Paris will get it. You are right though, London would be fair. We have add ot twice, as you say and New Yotk would be a security nightmare. The Brits deserve it. Look for a lot of whining out of the New York promoters.
London, NY, Madrid, Moscow and Paris on the shortlist.
I wouldn't want the games in Moscow with the Chechen terrorists around.
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