The competing cities, how they rate

LONDON'S OLYMPIC BID: Has twice previously staged the Games, in 1908 and 1948. IOC president Jacques Rogge was impressed by Manchester's performance as host city of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

However, the city's standing has been affected by the confusion over the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium while the city lost the 2005 World Athletics Championships after a fiasco over the proposed site at Picketts Lock.

MADRID: Beat off competition from Seville to win Spain's nomination but Barcelona's successful staging of the 1992 Olympics may be too recent in the minds of some for Spain to stage another Olympiad.

Madrid has a high-profile international sporting standing with its domestic football league, strong track and field tradition and love of cycling proving highlights. The country also has a modern infrastructure.

LEIPZIG: Saw off four other German cities to win Germany's nomination and will be backed by the German Government. The choice of a city in the former East Germany has big political significance and Rogge welcomed the decision, saying a city like Leipzig fitted in with his plan to reduce the grandeur of the Games.

Germany's two previous Games - Berlin in 1936 and Munich in 1972 - were overshadowed by politics, with the first something of a propaganda coup for Adolf Hitler and the second marred by the murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists.

NEW YORK: Selected above several other American cities and looks to emulate St Louis (1904), Los Angeles (1932 and 1984) and Atlanta (1996). The Big Apple's candidature was given an emotional impetus by the September 11 attacks - Rome was one city to say it would not run against New York.

However, the Atlanta Games were much criticised with former IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch significantly omitting his usual sign-off that they had been the "best ever Games" at the closing ceremony. The recent furore over alleged historic cover-ups of dope tests will also not sit easily.

HAVANA: The real outsider. Cuba have become one of the powers of track and field and represent the Caribbean which has produced most of the world's top sprinters in recent years. However, the collapse of world communism has left Fidel Castro's regime diplomatically isolated and with the opposition of the United States a certainty, it would be highly unlikely to get the nod.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Seen as the most likely of Brazilian bidders, although Sao Paulo has also expressed an interest. Would be a landmark for South America, although Mexico City did stage the 1968 Games for Central America.

Its natural beauty and beaches make it comparable in some ways to Sydney, credited with a brilliant 2000 Games. However, unlike Sydney, the city does not have an infrastructure which is suited to the Games while the security situation is bound to be a cause for concern to the IOC.

PARIS: Paris is expected to make an announcement later this month and the French capital certainly has a strong historic claim. Baron Pierre De Coubertin was the founder of the Modern Games in 1896 and after launching his brainchild in the home of the ancient Games in Athens he staged the second in Paris in 1900 and the French capital also staged the Games in 1924.

The Stade de France is up to Olympic standard and will host the World Athletics Championships this year, but Paris had a disappointing campaign when it was easily beaten by Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

MOSCOW: Moscow hosted the 1980 Games overshadowed by a US-led boycott after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The IOC chief Jacques Rogge said the bid was "very serious", but doubts abound over the Russian Government's commitment to finance the Games, as well as the city's crime problems.