The four bid cities competing to host the 2016 summer Olympics are locked in a tight race with no clear frontrunner emerging from the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) evaluation report released on Wednesday.

Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago and Madrid are bidding to win the right to host the 2016 Games. The IOC will elect the winning bid on Oct 2 at its session in Copenhagen.

The IOC's 13-member evaluation commission conducted on-site inspections in April and May on issues as diverse as accommodation, security, transport, venues and public support.

Its report is the final document regarding the bids before the IOC ballot.

The IOC said in its 98-page report that all cities had put in bids of high quality.

While the report is an important technical tool for IOC members who have been barred from visiting bid cities following the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics bribery scandal, decisions are also influenced by politics.

Chicago, aiming to be the first US city to host the Games since Atlanta in 1996, scored points with its compact plan, with most venues within 8km from the city center, which will require "minimum travel times for athletes and other client groups".

Its centrally-located lakefront Olympic village was also a winner.

Transport however, especially the need to double peak commuter traffic for the rail system during Games time, was seen as a challenge, as was failure to "provide a full guarantee covering a potential shortfall of the organizing committee, as requested by the IOC".

Chicago's Games budget was "ambitious but achievable" but would require an extensive sponsorship program to generate more than $1.8 billion for the "significant expenditure budget".

Rio's bid to become the first South American city to host the Olympics scored well with its wider regeneration plan supporting the Games preparation

A shortage of hotel rooms and the use of cruise ships as well as security were issues raised. Hosting the 2014 soccer World Cup would accelerate infrastructure delivery but could also hamper marketing the Games, the IOC said.

"We now have to continue to get our vision across to IOC members in order to make history on Oct 2," bid secretary general Carlos Osorio said.

Bid chief Carlos Nuzman said Rio appeared to have won most points. "The IOC report is a very strong confirmation of our Games plan. Rio has had possibly the most favorable of all," Nuzman said.

Tokyo, which hosted the Games in 1964, won praise for its $3.7 billion fund it has already set up and its compact Games plan backed by an efficient public transport system.

The Japanese capital's "relatively low" public support for the 2016 Games was a concern. Some 55.5 percent of Tokyo residents backed the bid in the IOC poll conducted in February.

The need to construct some venues that were initially listed as existing was another point of concern for the IOC.

Madrid enjoys the highest support among all bid cities, with 84.9 percent of the capital's residents backing the bid, according to the IOC's own poll.

It already has 23 of 33 venues but the IOC expressed concern over a lack of "clear delineation" on the roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders and their financial support.

Madrid also took a hit with the IOC still unclear whether national anti-doping laws complied with the World Anti-Doping Agency code, a point of greater importance for the IOC in recent years as it seeks to crack down on cheats during the Games.

(Reuters via China Daily September 4, 2009)