To be officially confirmed during a session at SportAccord, the industry event currently taking place in Lausanne, the IOC could cut out three cities from its final shortlist.
In the race for 2008, ten bids were whittled down to five. For 2012, it is widely expected the nine cities may be cut down to six or seven.
Certainly the race will be one of the toughest fought. With Paris, London, New York and Madrid, the heavy-weight contenders, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Leipzig and Havana make up the rest of the field. The smart money is on Havana being one of those eliminated at this early stage.
A final decision will be made next July in Singapore.
