Eight cities bid for 2010

Will Sarajevo win the Olympics for the second time?

The tiny European state of Andorra has joined seven other cities in bidding to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Sarajevo, which staged the 1984 Winter Games, was also among list of candidates announced by the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday, a day after the official bid deadline.

The other contenders are Bern in Switzerland, Harbin in China, Jaca in Spain; Pyeonchong in South Korea, Salzburg in Austria, and Vancouver in Canada.

The 2010 bidders

Andorra,

Bern, Switzerland

Pyeonchong, South Korea

Harbin, China

Jaca, Spain

Salzburg, Austria

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina

Vancouver, Canada

Respective bidders have until 31 May to submit their applications for the 2010 Games to the IOC, which will announce the winner in July 2003.

Jaca has been a perennial bidder, while the Harbin bid is the first time a Chinese city has entered the race for the Winter Games

But Sarajevo's Olympic officials said earlier that they were confident their city could win the race to host the event.

"I'm an optimist," said Vladislav Slokar, a member of the Bosnia capital's bidding committee.

Bosnia is recovering from a brutal war between 1992-1995 where many of the Olympic facilities in the capital were destroyed.

"It looked almost impossible in 1978 but we still won it," he added referring to Sarajevo's bid for the 1984 Olympics.