Sao Paulo to bid 2012 Olympics

Sao Paulo to bid 2012 Olympics

SAO PAULO: The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) has started a series of inspections in Sao Paulo with a view to the city bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

City mayor Marta Suplicy said: "Hosting the Olympics would be important for the whole continent as a South American city has never organized the Games."

The bid has the support of about three quarters of the 18 million inhabitants of South America's largest city.

The COB will in July choose between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as Brazil's representative before the International Olympic Committee makes its final decision on the hosts in July 2005. --AFP