London cleared its first hurdle in its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games today by becoming one of five cities shortlisted as official candidates to host the event.
The International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, has announced that London, Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid were unanimously voted to become candidate cities.
Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig and Rio were knocked out of the race. All the bidders were judged on the answers they gave in January to a 50-page detailed IOC questionnaire on how they would stage the Games.