The seven cities hoping to win the right to host the 2016 Olympics have formally submitted their plans to the International Olympic Committee.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Czech capital Prague, Doha in Qatar and Azerbaijan's Baku all completed their bid files by the 14 January deadline.
The files, which cover subjects such as venues, finance and security, will now be studied by an IOC panel.
The list of cities will be cut to a shortlist of finalists in June.
The shortlisted cities will take part in an observer programme at the Beijing Olympics this summer with the winner announced on 2 October 2009 during the IOC vote in Copenhagen.
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The bid files are in response to a 25-point IOC questionnaire covering all aspects of staging the Games.
The IOC panel will then compile a report for the ruling IOC executive board.
With London hosting the 2012 Olympics, Prague and Madrid, who bid unsuccessfully for the same event, could be at a disadvantage as back-to-back Summer Games have not been held in Europe since the 1948 London Olympics and the Helsinki event four years later.
But Madrid, whose files were handed over by former French and US Open tennis champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario among others, is convinced its bid will not suffer from the proximity of the 2012 Games.
"The rotation of the continents is not a hard and fast rule," said bid chief Mercedes Coghen.
"It's the perfect juncture for Madrid, a multicultural city with a strong Latin feeling, to organise an Olympic Games that would be very different to those in London."
No South American nation has ever hosted the Olympics, but Rio's application comes on the back of successful Pan-American Games hosted this summer.
Doha hosted last year's Asian Games, gaining much-needed experience in staging large-scale international sporting events, while Tokyo, which hosted the Olympics in 1964, will attempt to bring back the summer edition to Asia, eight years after Beijing.
"Tokyo's bid is ground-breaking in that athletes will live, train, compete and travel within the heart of the city," said Tokyo's bid committee chairman Ichiro Kono. "We think that is a first in Olympic history.
"We believe Tokyo's vision for 2016 is unique in being able to deliver the first truly urbanised Olympic Games."
Chicago beat San Francisco to get the American nod and given the Summer Olympics have not been hosted in the USA since the 1996 Atlanta Games, the windy city's bid could win points.
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