The five cities bidding to host the 2008 Summer Olympics have all submitted their official candidature files ahead of the deadline, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday.

With no ceremony, representatives from Beijing, Japan's Osaka, Toronto, Istanbul and Paris all personally delivered detailed documents of their bids to the IOC's Lausanne headquarters before Wednesday's deadline.

A 16-member IOC evaluation commission composed of athletes, representatives from the IOC, international sport federations, and national Olympic committees as well as other experts will examine each file before visiting the five candidate cities.

It will be headed by Hein Verbruggen, president of the International Cycling Union.

The evaluation commission will then prepare a detailed report that will be made available to all IOC members by mid-May. The IOC will make the final decision in a vote in July.

Since IOC members have been banned from visiting bidding cities as part of reforms after the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, the evaluation report will provide the major source of information for members.

Beijing, regarded by many as the favourite to win the vote, is the first city scheduled to be visited on February 21-24 followed by Osaka on February 26-28.

They will be followed by Toronto on March 8-11, Istanbul on March 21-24 and Paris on March 26-29.

(China Daily 01/18/01)