2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: FOUR EUROPEAN CITIES OUT OF THE SIX APPLICANT

Lausanne, September - The International Olympic Committee has announced today that six cities have been put forward by their respective National Olympic Committees to apply to host the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. Four of them belong to our continent: Baku (Azerbaijan), Istanbul (Turkey), Madrid (Spain), and Rome (Italy) and two from Asia Doha (Qatar) and Tokyo (Japan).

The six Applicant Cities will now proceed to Phase 1 of the IOC's two-step procedure, which will lead to the election of the 2020 host city in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 September 2013.

First commitment of the six Applicant Cities will be next 3-4 November when the IOC will held an information seminar in Lausanne .

Next step will be the submission of the Submission of the Application File and guarantee letters to the IOC on 15 February 2012.

Phase one will end on May 2012 when the IOC Executive Board will accept Candidates Cities.

On Phase two, the candidate cities will prepare bid books and then host visits of the IOC Evaluation Commission in early 2013.

The IOC vote for 2020 takes place in early September 2013 at the 38th IOC Session.

(Source: eurolympic.org)