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SportsMay 18, 2004

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- New York bid leader Dan Doctoroff showed no signs of nerves as he awaited today's selection of the finalists vying to host the 2012 Olympics. With nine cities in the running, the International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to keep as many as six candidates and as few as four...

By Stephen Wilson, The Associated Press

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- New York bid leader Dan Doctoroff showed no signs of nerves as he awaited today's selection of the finalists vying to host the 2012 Olympics.

With nine cities in the running, the International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to keep as many as six candidates and as few as four.

"I've heard everything from A to Z," Doctoroff said, calmly surveying the lobby scene Monday in a busy Olympic convention hall. "I've heard everything from four to nine. Nobody seems to know what's going to happen. I'm not going to worry about it."

He doesn't need to.

New York is one of four cities virtually assured of making the cut, along with Paris, London and Madrid, Spain.

Havana definitely won't make the list. That leaves four cities on the bubble: Moscow; Istanbul, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Leipzig, Germany. Leipzig and Istanbul appear to be the least likely of surviving.

The decision will kick off a 14-month race culminating with the selection of the host city by the full IOC assembly in Singapore in July 2005.

Paris, which last hosted the Olympics in 1924, is viewed as the front-runner. The French capital successfully hosted soccer's World Cup in 1998, and it is seen by IOC members as having paid its dues after failed bids for the 1992 and 2008 Olympics. London is considered the main challenger.

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New York has to contend with anti-American sentiment fueled by the invasion of Iraq, as well as the geographical disadvantage of having the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia). The IOC is reluctant to award consecutive Olympics to the same continent.

Today's cut will be based largely on a report prepared by a working group, headed by executive director Gilbert Felli, analyzing the technical criteria of each city. The confidential report was only given to the board members late Monday.

"I have no clue, I have no idea," Dutch IOC member Hein Verbruggen said. "I think it's one of the best-kept secrets I have ever witnessed. I have heard absolutely nothing and I think that's a very good thing."

No sports cut yetMeanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge opened Monday's meetings by declaring that none of the 28 summer sports will be dropped from the Olympic program before the 2012 games. The assurance came as a relief to baseball, softball and modern pentathlon, which had feared being excluded for 2008.

Rogge said the only exception would be if a sports federation is guilty of serious ethical violations or fails to uphold global anti-doping rules.

The IOC will review all the sports after this summer's Athens Olympics and decide on the program for 2012 at the Singapore session next year.

Baseball, softball and modern pentathlon had been recommended for exclusion by an IOC panel in 2002.

"I wish they had done this two years ago," said Don Porter, the American president of the international softball federation. "We've been on pins and needles ever since. This gives us more time to develop our sport."

Added Aldo Notari, the Italian head of the International Baseball Federation: "We'll be sleeping better for the next few nights."

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