The developing world can give up on its dream of hosting future Olympics - that is the message the International Olympic Committee sent when it announced the five cities that are still in the running to host the 2012 summer games.

A simple glance at the results of the evaluation of the nine pre-candidates shows that, with the usual criteria, it would be very difficult for a city in a developing country to even pass the first phase in the selection process.

The eliminations that the IOC announced this week were Istanbul, Havana, Leipzig and Rio de Janeiro, while the cities continuing to vie for the honour of hosting the 2012 Olympics are London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. The 'chosen one' will be announced in 2005.

The degree of economic development is what clearly divides the two groups. The exception is the German city of Leipzig. But it is obvious that a city of just 519,000 people, with another 111,000 in the surrounding areas, has little to offer when compared to the major capitals in terms of power, business deals and tourism.

Brazil's minister of sports, Angelo Queiroz, accused the IOC of adopting a 'political decision' resulting from pressure by economically powerful countries that he says are monopolising the Olympics.

The decision to eliminate the poorer countries and Leipzig from the list was based on a technical report put together by a working group, which awarded each candidate city a certain number of points in eleven different categories.

Six-point average

Those categories did not include natural beauty, which the local authorities believed to be a strong advantage for Rio de Janeiro. Nor was this Brazilian beach city eliminated solely for its high rates of crime and violence, which often make headlines here and abroad.

The most important categories for the final tally were general infrastructure and availability of lodging, which were given a weight factor of five (the maximum) in the final score, and security, with a weight factor of three.

Rio earned a minimum score of 3.1 and maximum of 4.6 for infrastructure, which took into primary consideration transportation, and, secondly, its communications media - television, radio and press - and the airport.

The worst infrastructure scores in that category went to Havana, which earned 1.5 and 3.2, and Istanbul, with 2.7 and 4.1 respectively.

In the overall tally, Rio surpassed the Turkish and Cuban capitals, but was far from achieving the six-point average needed to move on to the second phase in the selection process.

Big business

Other important categories, with weight factors of three and four in the final score, were the planned Olympic villages to house the athletes, the sports facilities, financial feasibility, consistency of the overall plan, and the traffic conditions, including travel time and organisation.

Matters like government and public opinion support for hosting the games, environmental conditions and experience in organising sports competitions were assigned a weight factor of two.

In the financial arena, for example, Rio de Janeiro's project relied heavily on sponsorship and sales, considered somewhat unrealistic given the country's economic situation.

It is difficult to see how cities in the developing world can obtain the necessary score in the technical categories, much less surpass their rivals in rich countries.

The dream of hosting the Olympic Games and of repeating the progress achieved by the Spanish city of Barcelona in 1992 seems increasingly out of reach.

The notion of using this international sports event to foster urban development has become rather unrealistic. On the contrary, it is necessary to achieve great development before even applying to be a candidate, given that the games have turned into a big business that powerful cities will fight for, tooth and nail.

Beijing won the battle to host the games in 2008, but one can no longer say that China, an economic power comparable in the near future to the United States, is really representative of the developing world.

Fifa approach

The Brazilians complained because the Olympics have never been held in South America, and the only Latin American country to serve as host was Mexico, back in 1968.

Of the 24 Olympiads that have taken place since 1896, only seven were outside of Western Europe and the United States, the exceptions usually being rich countries themselves, like Australia, Canada and Japan.

And the IOC president, Belgian Jacques Rogge, made it clear that the selection of the Olympic host city is based on ensuring the success of the games, not on bringing the event to new countries or regions.

The candidate cities must show they are better able to organise the Olympic Games than the rest, he said.

It is a very different approach than that of international football competitions. The World Cup alternates amongst the continents, seeking to disseminate the sport around the globe. In Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay have hosted the international football championship.

More recently, FIFA, the sport's international federation, has attempted to bring the World Cup to regions with recent or scant development in football. In 2002, it was held in South Korea and Japan, and South Africa has been chosen to host the championship in 2010. - IPS