Putin pledges memorable event if Moscow hosts Games

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Olympic inspectors on Wednesday to be fair when picking the venue for the 2012 Games and pledged a memorable event if Moscow was chosen.

Putin, a judo black-belt, met the 13-strong International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commission at the Kremlin on the penultimate day of its four-day visit to Moscow, widely viewed as the underdog in the race to host the Games.

"We hope that the decision due to be taken with regard to the venue of the Olympic Games will be fair, balanced and just," Putin told the commission.

"If the decision is taken in favour of Moscow, both the Moscow and federal authorities will do their best to organise the Olympics at the highest possible level in order to make an event of world importance, a memorable event."

The Russian capital is the last stop on the IOC's tour of the five short-listed cities. Paris is the early favourite, with London, Madrid and New York the other candidates.

Billboards telling people to "Imagine it now" as well as other promotional banners decorate Moscow's streets as the city's bid organisers attempt to gather public support.

But it will take more than adverts to make Moscow a realistic choice. A crippling traffic problem, lack of hotels and inadequate airports are some of the big problems the city faces.

The Moscow bid team, led by the city's vice mayor, Valery Shantsev, showed the Olympic guests around the city's well-known sites such as Red Square and also the proposed sporting venues.

Facilities

Many of the facilities have been inherited from the city's boycott-marred 1980 Games, but others have yet to be built such as the 12,000-seat National Tennis Centre which is being named after former IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch.

One of the venues on the commission's tour was the Luzhniki sports complex, where the world figure skating championships were being held this week in front of a disappointingly sparse crowd. Organisers will have to persuade the IOC that such low turnout would not be a problem for the Olympics.