Who choses the next host for the Olympic Games and how?

Answer 1

Any city interested in hosting the Olympics applies to become a candidate city by filling out an extensive application and questionnaire. Prospective host cities must also submit an emblem created to visually represent their candidature, and compose and deliver a 10-minute presentation introducing their management team to the IOC.

From there, a team of experts examines those applicant cities for certain basic technical requirements, both logistical (such as space, access, accommodations, transportation, and safety/security) and subjective (such as promotional plans, and plans for such ancillary events as parades and ceremonies, or an Olympic village).

At the end of this initial selection phase, the team submits to the IOC Executive Board a list of those applicants meeting the necessary specifications. For the 2008 Summer Olympics, for example, 10 cities met the proper qualifications to be considered by the Executive Board, those being: Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Havana, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Paris, Seville, and Toronto.

Pending Executive Board approval, those cities then become Official Candidate Cities, given the authorization to move forward into the full bidding process. Continuing with the example of the 2008 Summer Olympics, only 5 of the original 10 submitted cities received approval by the Board and, consequently, permission to continue vying for the role of host to this year's games, those being: Beijing, Istanbul, Osaka, Paris, Toronto.

The cities that have made it this far in the selection process must next submit an in-depth Candidature File to the evaluation committee, and prepare for a visit from the committee members where the specific sites where the Olympic events themselves are proposed to occur and the city itself at large are closely studied for a bevy of factors.

After each visit, and no less than two months before the fateful IOC session in which the host city will be chosen, the evaluation committee composes written reports for the Executive Board to read on the results of each of the visits.

Based on these reports, the 122 IOC members cast their votes by secret ballot, and the winning city is determined by simple majority (meaning greater than 50%). If a majority is not achieved in the first round of voting (as is often the case), the city with the lowest number of votes is knocked out of the running and a new vote is taken, with the same procedure being followed each time until the winner is chosen.