No clear favorite for Olympics

SINGAPORE – A return to Paris for the first time since 1924? Back to London after more than half a century? A first for the Big Apple? Another fiesta in Spain? A reward for the new Russia?

After all the global campaigning, furious lobbying and last-minute pitches by world leaders and sports celebrities, the most glamorous and hotly contested Olympic bid race in history will be decided today when the International Olympic Committee chooses among Paris, London, New York, Madrid and Moscow to be the host city for the 2012 Summer Games.

Paris, the longtime front-runner, goes in as the perceived favorite and London a strong challenger. New York and Madrid would be surprise winners, while Moscow is a long shot.

But IOC members said the race remains tight, wide open and impossible to call. Much could depend on the impact of the bid cities’ final presentations and the vagaries of the round-by-round secret voting procedure.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the vote could be similar to 1993, when Sydney defeated Beijing 45-43 in the final round to land the 2000 Olympics. He even raised the possibility of a tie vote.

“The most intriguing thing will be if I have to give the deciding vote,” Rogge told The Associated Press. The IOC president only votes in case of a deadlock.

The result could hinge not so much on the technical merits of the bids but on less tangible factors such as politics, emotion and self-interest among the 100 or so IOC members.

Recent host city elections were driven by defining issues, but the 2012 race offers an unprecedented field of world-class cities, and none has a built-in sentimental advantage.

“Before, we have known more or less which one we think should win and try to move it in the right direction,” said IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway. “This time, it’s not necessary. It’s very open.”

Paris is bidding for the third time in 20 years after losing the 1992 and 2008 Olympics – and the IOC tends to reward persistence. The French capital has a ready-to-go Olympic stadium in the Stade de France and embraces the IOC’s blueprint for controlling the size and cost of the games, including 13 proposed temporary venues.

London, which last held the games in 1948, is centered on the massive urban renewal of a dilapidated area of East London.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton flew in to join Muhammad Ali as high-profile boosters of New York’s bid, which won the approval of the IOC executive board for its new stadium plans. Last month, a state board rejected a proposed stadium in Manhattan, and officials quickly devised plans for a stadium in Queens.