Cities applying to host 2008 Olympic Games should first pass a qualification examination by answering 22 questions raised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

During the initial meeting here today between the IOC and the ten cities interested in hosting the 2008 Olympic games, IOC Director General Francois Carrard and Sports Director Gilbert Felli distributed the representatives from the cities the questionnaire includes 22 questions along six themes:

- Motivation and concept, e.g., what is your city's principle motivation

and objectives for hosting the Olympic Games.

- Political and public support, e.g., are there laws or other means in your country to combat doping in sport.

- General infrastructure, e.g., what types of infrastructure are existing, planned, or would be required as a result of hosting the

Games.

- Sports infrastructure, e.g., what environmental impact do you foresee by staging the Olympic Games.

- Logistics and experience, e.g., what is the existing and planned capacity of accommodation in your city.

- Financing, e.g., how would the city fund its candidature activities.

The applicant cities have to complete their answers by June 20, 2000. They have also received a 42-page document, including the IOC Code of Ethics and the procedure guiding the bid acceptance phase.

Through the questionnaire, the IOC will assess each city's capacity to organize the Olympic Games, the world's largest sporting event. The IOC administration will collect the completed questionnaires, analyze them, and report to the IOC Executive Board, who will meet on August 28-29 to make a final decision as to which applicants will be accepted as bid cities. The announcement will be made by August 31.

Among the innovations to the process is a candidature acceptance phase, the enhanced power of the IOC Executive Board to select which candidates go before the Session for election, the increased responsibility of the respective National Olympic Committee (NOC) throughout the candidature period, and the elimination of gifts and member visits to the candidate cities.

Along with the prohibitions against visits and gifts, no presentations to the IOC or international promotion will be allowed during this phase. Any breach of these and other rules can be reported to the IOC Ethics Commission by either a city or the IOC. Sanctions as severe as exclusion of the city's application will be handed down by the IOC Executive Board. "The new

procedure is concrete evidence our reforms are in place and working. The rules and procedures are clear and transparent. This benefits both the cities and the IOC," said Francois Carrard, IOC director general.

"Bidding to host the Olympic Games requires a major commitment by each city and its National Olympic Committee," said Gilbert Felli, IOC sports director. "Today we did two things to help. We highlighted several areas the cities need to focus on early in the process, and we gave the IOC a mechanism by which to measure each city's capacity to host the Olympic Games."

The ten cities interested in hosting the 29th Olympiad in 2008 are: Bangkok of Thailand, Beijing of China, Cairo of Egypt, Havana of Cuba, Istanbul of Turkey, Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, Osaka of Japan, Paris of France, Seville of Spain, and Toronto of Canada.