Bids for the 2008 Summer Olympics

Ten cities submitted bids to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics that were recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), five of which made the IOC Executive Committee's shortlist. The games were awarded to Beijing, China on July 13, 2001. The other shortlisted cities were Toronto, Paris, Istanbul and Osaka. Beijing won an absolute majority of votes after two rounds of voting, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds of voting. IOC delegates and the media identified a number of factors in its favor, including the size of the country, improvements in Chinese anti-doping enforcement, and its close loss to Sydney, Australia eight years earlier. In that bidding process, which chose the host city for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Beijing led every round of voting but lost in the final round to Sydney by two votes.

A number of politicians and non-governmental organizations criticized the Beijing bid and its selection due to concerns about China's human rights record. In response, supporters of the Beijing bid suggested that hosting the games might lead to "progress" on human rights and other issues. Some IOC delegates also expressed concerns about air pollution and heat in Beijing during the summer, and its effects on athletes participating in the games. In order to address such concerns, the Beijing bid included plans to reduce both air and water pollution in the city in advance of the games.

The bidding process for the 2008 Summer Olympics was the first in which the process consisted of two phases. Subsequent bidding processes have followed the same model. During the first phase, which begins immediately after the bid submission deadline, the "applicant cities" are required to answer a questionnaire covering themes of importance to a successful Games organisation. This information allows the IOC to analyse the cities' hosting capacities and the strengths and weaknesses of their plans. Following a detailed study of the submitted questionnaires and ensuing reports, the IOC Executive Board selects the cities that are qualified to proceed to the next phase. The second phase is the true candidature stage: the accepted applicant cities (from now on referred to as "candidate cities") are required to submit a second questionnaire in the form of an extended, more detailed, candidature file. These files are carefully studied by the IOC Evaluation Commission, a group composed of IOC members, representatives of international sport federations, NOCs, athletes, the International Paralympic Committee, and international experts in various fields. The members of the Evaluation Commission then make four-day inspection visits to each of the candidate cities, where they check the proposed venues and are briefed about details of the themes covered in the candidature file. The Evaluation Commission communicates the results of its inspections in a report sent to the IOC members up to one month before the electing IOC Session. Following the announcement of the host city, the successful bid delegation signs the "Host City Contract" with the IOC, which delegates the responsibilities of the Games organisation to the city and respective NOC.

Potential applicant cities

A number of cities expressed some interest in bidding or were mentioned as potential bidders for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but did not do so. These bids were not internally selected by the NOC (in case of more than one bidding city from the same country), were not put forward to the IOC, were withdrawn before filing the necessary paperwork, or never rose above speculation. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil received early funding to develop a bid for the 2008 Games but instead decided to bid for the 2012 games. Monterrey, Mexico was in the earliest stages of organizing a bid but did not complete the process. Other cities hinted at submitting bids or were mentioned as possible bidders in media reports but did not do so, including: Lisbon, Portugal; Krasnaya Polyana, Russia; a joint Israel/Palestinian bid; New York City, United States; Prague, Czech Republic; Busan, South Korea; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Vancouver was bidding for the 2010 Winter Olympics); and Moscow, Russia. The IOC Candidature Acceptance Working Group analyzed the responses and quantified the applicant's potential to be a host city based on eleven criteria: government support and public opinion, general infrastructure, sports infrastructure, olympic village, environmental conditions and impact, accommodation, transport, security, experience from past sports events, finance, and the general concept. Each of these criteria was given a weight which was then used to calculate an overall score for that applicant city. If a city did not get a final score of at least 6 out of 10, they would not be recommended for candidature.

In its final report, the Candidature Acceptance Working Group recommended only four cities as meeting the minimum standard for being a host city, as denoted by a score of 6 on their scale. These cities were Beijing, China; Osaka, Japan; Paris, France; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Bangkok, Thailand
Cairo, Egypt
Havana, Cuba
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Seville, Spain

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; width: 1090px; text-align:center; font-size:90%"

|+ Table of scores given by the IOC Working Group to assess the quality and feasibility of the 2008 Applicant cities

! rowspan="3" | Criteria

! width="50px" rowspan="3" | Weight

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Bangkok

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Beijing

! width="60px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Cairo

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Havana

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Istanbul

! width="90px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Kuala Lumpur

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Osaka

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Paris

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Seville

! width="70px" colspan="2" valign="bottom" | Toronto

! colspan="2" |

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

!width="25px" | Min

!width="25px" | Max

|align="left" | Accommodation

| 5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 10.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 10.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.9

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.6

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 10.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.9

|align="left" | Environmental conditions and impact

| 2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 2.8

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.8

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.2

|align="left" | Experience from past sports events

| 2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.5

|align="left" | General infrastructure

| 5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 1.5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.8

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 0.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 2.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 0.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 1.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.6

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.5

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.6

|align="left" | Government support, public opinion

| 1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.5

|align="left" | Olympic Village

| 4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.8

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

|align="left" | General concept

| 3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

|align="left" | Security

| 3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.6

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.0

|align="left" | Sports infrastructure

| 4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.9

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 2.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.9

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.1

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.6

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.0

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.8

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.6

|align="left" | Transport infrastructure

| 4

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.7

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 3.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.3

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.1

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.6

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 5.6

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.9

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.7

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 9.0

| style="background: #ffd5e5" | 4.2

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 6.4

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 7.5

| style="background: #d5e5ff" | 8.7

Evaluation of candidate cities

Each of the five candidate cities was then evaluated by the IOC's fourteen member Evaluation Commission, chaired by Hein Verbruggen. These evaluations included site visits to each of the host cities and analysis of each city's potential across 18 themes. The four-day-long visits occurred between February 21 and March 28, 2001, with visits to each specific city on the following dates:

Beijing — February 21–24
Osaka — February 26–March 1
Toronto — March 8–11
Istanbul — March 21–24
Paris — March 26–29

The Commission attempted to identify any major risks the IOC would be taking if each city were chosen to host the Games. In its final report, the Commission refrained from ranking each of the cities or identifying a favorite. Instead, they identified three cities as excellent candidates; Beijing, Paris, and Toronto. In effect, the commission recommended each of these cities equally. In rejecting Istanbul, they expressed concerns about the ability of the city to coordinate financing and construction of infrastructure. In particular, they were concerned that the plans for transportation infrastructure improvements would be difficult to achieve. Osaka was also not rated excellent due to concerns about financing and traffic congestion.

Final selection process

The 112th session of the IOC, where the decision about the host city took place, was held in Moscow, Russia from July 13–16, 2001. Voting on the question of the host city took place on July 13, 2001. Presentations of the candidate cities began at 9:30 AM MSK (UTC+04:00) in the Congress Hall of Moscow's World Trade Center. This was followed by the official presentation of the Evaluation Committee report to the IOC delegates and, soon after, the delegates began casting their votes. Of the 122 members of the IOC at the time, 105 were eligible to vote in the first round. Members who were not present or who represented countries with candidate cities were not allowed by IOC rules to vote. However, after the elimination of a city in each round, members who had previously been barred from voting due to that city's candidacy were allowed to vote in subsequent rounds. The IOC members who were unable to vote included:

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan=2| IOC members unable to vote in the 2008 Host City Election (17)

! Members from countries with candidate cities (13)!! Absent members (4)

|- valign=top

|width=50%|

Charmaine Crooks
Paul Henderson
Richard W. Pound
Robert Steadward
He Zhenliang
Lu Chengrong
Yu Zaiqing
Guy Drut
Jean-Claude Killy
Henri Sérandour
Chiharu Igaya
Shunichiro Okano
Sinan Erdem

|width=50%|

Věra Čáslavská
Alexandre de Merode
Mohamad Bob Hasan
Lassana Palenfo

At the end of the first round of voting, only Beijing, Toronto, Paris, and Istanbul remained; Osaka was eliminated after having received only six votes. Beijing had opened a wide lead, however, receiving more than double the number of votes received by second place Toronto. In the second round, Beijing received enough votes to have an absolute majority (possibly due to the Osaka supporters switching to its side) and no subsequent rounds of voting were required. The results of the second round were as follows: Beijing garnered 56 votes, Toronto 22, Paris 18, and Istanbul 9. According to IOC rules Beijing at that point became the official host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Results from the two rounds of voting were as follows:

{| class=wikitable

!colspan=6 align=center| 2008 Host City Election — ballot results

! City

! Country (NOC)

|bgcolor=silver| Round 1

|bgcolor=silver| Round 2

| Beijing || || 44 || 56

| Toronto || || 20 || 22

| Paris || || 15 || 18

| Istanbul || || 17 || 9

| Osaka || || 6 || —

Bidding cities

Candidate cities

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

! style="background-color: #BFD7FF" | Logo

! style="background-color: #BFD7FF" width="20%" | City

! style="background-color: #BFD7FF" width="20%" | Country

! style="background-color: #BFD7FF" width="40%" | National Olympic Committee

! style="background-color: #BFD7FF" width="20%" | Result

| style="text-align:center" scope="row" rowspan="2" |110px

! style="text-align:center" scope="row" | Beijing

! scope="row" |

! style="text-align:center" scope="row" | Chinese Olympic Committee (CHN)

! style="text-align:center" scope="row" | Winner

| colspan="4" style="text-align: left" |

Beijing 2008 was the successful bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Eight years earlier, Beijing proposed a competitive bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, losing to Sydney, Australia. The selection of Sydney was an upset, as Beijing led in the first three rounds of voting that year and lost in the final round by only two votes. The loss was despite intense lobbying of the IOC by China, despite having a better project, news reports at the time suggested that Sydney won the process because it was seen as a safe choice; criticism of China's human rights record and concerns about its lack of experience in hosting major sporting events, some IOC members saw this proposal as risky. By contrast, during the 2008 bid and after its selection as a host city, Chinese officials suggested that hosting the games would actually improve China's human rights record.

|27 August - 7 September

!Toronto

|25 July - 10 August on Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. To quell concerns over this, Beijing chose the motto of "New Beijing, Great Olympics" in order to emphasize the country's movement towards new ideals for the new millennium.

In its bid for the Summer Olympics made in 2001, the PRC made several promises to the IOC regarding improvements with human rights, press freedoms, and environmental concerns. However, it was widely reported by western media sources that China failed to live up to the guarantees it made in order to bolster its chances of winning the bid for the games.

Beijing Olympic bid chief Wang Wei stated in 2001:

However, the human rights group Amnesty International released a statement marking the 10-day countdown to the games stating that: