The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is pleased to announce that it received the Candidature Files of the five candidate cities to host the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008 (Osaka, Paris, Toronto, Beijing and Istanbul, in the official IOC order of drawing of lots). The deadline for submission was midnight, tonight.

The five cities were accepted as candidate cities by the IOC Executive Board on 28 August 2000. Ten cities were originally interested in hosting the Olympic Games in 2008: Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Havana, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Paris, Seville, and Toronto.

The IOC Evaluation Commission will now visit the five candidate cities to conduct on-the-ground analysis and review their qualifications to host the Olympic Games. The dates of the visits are as follows:

BEIJING: 21-24th February 2001 inclusive

OSAKA: 26th February – 1 st March 2001 inclusive

TORONTO: 8-11th March 2001 inclusive

ISTANBUL: 21-24th March 2001 inclusive

PARIS: 26-29th March 2001 inclusive.

The Commission, chaired by Mr Hein Verbruggen, is composed of representatives of the IOC, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs), athletes, of external experts and, for the first time, of one representative of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The Commission will prepare a report to be submitted to the IOC members by mid-May 2001. The host city of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008 will be elected on 13 July 2001 during the IOC Session in Moscow.

For further information please contact:

IOC
Franklin Servan-Schreiber
Director of IOC Communications
Tel: +61 2 8115 7142 / +61 2 8113 3378