China and Spain submitted late bids for the 2010 Winter Olympics,
putting seven countries in the race for the games.
The International Olympic
Committee said Monday that China had selected the city of
Harbin, in the northeast Heilongjiang Province, as a candidate
for the 2010 games.
The IOC confirmed it also received a bid from the Spanish town of
Jaca, which was unsuccessful in two previous Winter Olympic
attempts. Jaca, in northern Spain, was chosen by the Spanish
Olympic Committee over the southern resort of Granada.
The deadline for submission of bids to the IOC is February 4.
The other candidates who have already entered the race or are
expected to: Berne, Switzerland; Kangwon Province, South Korea;
Salzburg, Austria; Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; and Vancouver,
British Columbia, in Canada.
The IOC will evaluate the candidates and announce a short list of
finalists in August. The winner will be selected in 2003.
Still to be decided is whether IOC members will visit the bid
cities.
Member visits have been prohibited since the Salt Lake City bribery
scandal. But there is a strong push for visits to be reinstated,
and a decision will be made at a special IOC session in Mexico in
November.
(China
Daily January 29, 2002)