China bid to stage the Summer Olympics in 2008

China will bid to stage the Summer Olympics in 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday.

Beijing, which was beaten in the race to stage the 2000 Games by Sydney four years ago despite being the pre-vote favourite, and Shanghai are the likely candidates, the IOC said in its newsletter.

Chinese Olympic officials had confirmed they would make a bid, the IOC said, and are expected to finalise their candidate after the All China Games next month.

After Athens won last week's vote in Lausanne to stage the 2004 Olympics, the Games are now almost certain to go to a country from outside Europe in 2008.

IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said at the weekend there had been just one official 2008 bid so far - from Osaka. But he encouraged Cape Town to run again after their good showing in the 2004 vote.