Only the overall result will be made public because of fears that details of the voting could create an unofficial ranking system among Olympic sports.
Each of sports contested at the 2004 Athens Games will be put to a vote in Singapore on Friday and any sport failing to win a majority of votes will be dropped for the 2012 Games.
It would be replaced by one of five sports on a waiting list, including Rugby Sevens, squash, golf, roller sports, and karate.
The decision will spare the blushes of sports which perform badly.
The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), which represents all 28 sports currently in the Olympics, is lobbying for the existing programme, which it described as ‘attractive and well balanced’ to be maintained.
The last sport to be removed from the Olympic Games was polo in 1936.
