Quebec, May 24, 2012 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Istanbul (Turkey), Tokyo (Japan) and Madrid (Spain) have made it on to the shortlist of cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympic Games. The Candidate Cities were accepted from among five Applicant Cities, which also included Baku (Azerbaijan) and Doha (Qatar).
 The three remaining candidate cities will enter into Phase 2 of the selection period. Files from the cities will be submitted to the IOC by January 7, 2013. Following an official visit by the IOC Evaluation Commission between February and April of 2013, a report will be made to the 2020 IOC Evaluation Commission and candidate cities will brief IOC members.
 The election of the host city will take place on 7 September 2013 at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (QNA)