London awaits Olympics decision

It will be a nervy time for the key players behind London's bid

Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics will learn on Tuesday if they have made the shortlist to host the games.

The International Olympic Committee will announce which of the nine rivals go forward to next year's final vote.

London is believed to be among the front-runners along with Paris, New York and Madrid. At least two cities are likely to be eliminated.

The final decision on who will host the event is due to be announced in Singapore next year.

Candidate cities

Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, Moscow and Rio are seen as more vulnerable.

Paris, which hosted the Games in 1924, is the current favourite to win hosting rights, while Havana has the smallest chance of making the cut.

IOC president Jacques Rogge hinted last year all nine cities could survive, but recently acknowledged some will be weeded out.

And IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg said that, based on the bid documents, "five or six deserve to go through".

The announcement is due to be made in Lausanne at 1230 BST ahead of the final vote in Singapore on 6 July next year.

British IOC member Craig Reedie added: "The 2012 process will work better with a smaller number of candidate cities.

"Four cities would be a brave decision and six might be a practical alternative."

An IOC working group will make recommendations to the 15 members of their executive committee, who will decide which cities to eliminate from the running.

The official candidate cities will be able to incorporate the Olympic rings in their bid logos and begin promoting their cause more intensively.

The 2012 Games are believed to have a stronger chance of coming to Europe than North America as the 2010 winter Olympics will be staged in Vancouver.

To coincide with the announcement the BBC's Ten O'Clock News commissioned a poll into public opinion on the London bid.

It asked just more than a 1,000 adults whether they backed the bid. Of those questioned 73% backed the bid, 15% opposed it and 12% said they did not know.

As to whether the London bid would be successful, 44% said yes but 45% said no and 11% did not know.

Asked if the money would be better spent on grass roots and school sports, 68% said it would, 30% said it would not and 2% did not know.