2008 Olympics Venue to be Announced on July 13The venue for the 2008 Olympic Games will be announced in Moscow on July 13 at the 112th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Vitaly Smirnov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, told a Friday press conference.He said representatives from each of the five candidate cities - Osaka, Paris, Beijing, Istanbul and Toronto - will have one hour to stake their claims on that day. And the final selection will then be declared at 18:00 Moscow time (1400GMT) in the three screens of the conference hall, the press center and the Russian IOC building. According to Smirnov, one city will be washed out at each round of the electronic voting. In case of equal ballots, additional voting will held between the two cities. If a candidate wins over 50 percent of votes, the election can end ahead of time, he added. The IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch arrived here Friday to complete his career as the IOC chief in the place where he started his tenure 21 years ago. On the last day of the 112th IOC session, July 16, Samaranch will announce his successor elected by 120 IOC members from five candidates, which include Dick Pound of Canada, Anita DeFrantz of the U.S., Pal Schmitt of Hungary, Jacques Rogge of Belgium and Kim Un-yong of South Korea. Prior to the IOC session from July 13 to 16, a meeting of the IOC executive committee will start on July 8. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |