IOC ponders programme change for 2012 Games

Katie Fry, Paris

The International Olympic Committee finalised the procedures yesterday for the vote, which will be held when the general assembly meets in Singapore.

The IOC is considering whether to drop any of the existing 28 sports and add any of the five sports hoping to get into the Olympics golf, rugby, karate, squash and roller sports.

No sport has been cut from the Summer Olympics since polo in 1936.

IOC president Jacques Rogge maintains the Olympics must continue to have a maximum 28 sports, 301 medal events and 10,500 athletes. No new sport will be added unless one is dropped.

IOC members will vote by secret ballot July 8 on each of the 28 sports contested in Athens last summer. The IOC has 117 eligible voting delegates. To stay on the programme, a sport must receive a simple majority of 51%.

If one or more sports go out, the IOC executive board will meet later on July 8 to decide which of the five sports on the waiting list should be proposed for admission.

Meanwhile, Rogge has warned rival cities in the race to host the 2012 Games not to start a bidding war.

The IOC president urged caution after the committee launched an inquiry into incentives offered by London and New York.

"We do not want a kind of bidding war in the final few days," said Rogge.

"In this case there were proposals from two cities which we knew nothing about and I think it would have been wiser had we known."

The IOC wants to stick strictly to the rules of the bidding process, which state that cities cannot add any more new proposals to the bid book which was presented last November.

London's bid is being investigated after the team announced plans to provide a travel deal to athletes and officials as well as cash subsidies to sporting bodies.

New York is also under scrutiny after they offered sporting federations a chance to gain a foothold in the lucrative US markets.