Would-Be 2004 Olympic Hosts Face Showdown Late This Week

In what shapes up as the most wide-open, unpredictable and contentious Olympic selection in years, five cities are entering the final days of the high-stakes race for the 2004 Summer Games.

The contest has been tainted in recent weeks by mudslinging among the three European candidates - particularly between rivals Rome and Athens - and a series of bomb attacks and terrorist threats against Stockholm’s bid.

While those three cities try to limit any damage from last-minute debate, Cape Town and Buenos Aires hope that one of them gets to take the Olympics where no games have gone before.

Unlike recent Olympic votes, there are no overwhelming favorites and no obvious also-rans this time.

The decision will come Friday, when 109 members of the IOC vote by secret ballot in Lausanne, Switzerland. Several rounds of voting are expected before a winner emerges. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated after each round until one achieves a majority.

Organizers of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, claimed victory in a long-running fight with the International Olympic Committee over the men’s downhill course.

Nagano organizing chief Makoto Kobayashi said Marc Hodler, president of the International Ski Federation (FIS) and executive board member of the IOC, finally agreed to drop his demand that the course be lengthened.

Kobayashi said the starting point for the downhill at the Hakuba venue would remain at 5,493 feet. That will make the length of the course less than 1.86 miles, the shortest in recent times.