Olympic Vote Has Rules of Its Own

How today’s vote for the 2012 Olympic host city worked:

International Olympic Committee members voted by secret ballot among five candidates -- London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.

Voting was by rounds until one city obtained a majority.

The city that received the fewest votes dropped out after each round.

Four rounds would be the maximum.

If two or more cities were tied for the lowest number of votes, a runoff was held, with the winner advancing to the next round.

Voting figures were released only after the winner was announced.

Members from countries with bid cities didn’t vote while their candidate was still in contention.

Once a city was eliminated, members from that country joined voting in subsequent rounds. Of the IOC’s 116 members, 99 were eligible to vote in the first round.

IOC President Jacques Rogge doesn’t vote, one member (Ivan Slavkov of Bulgaria) was suspended, one member (Nikos Filaretos of Greece) was absent because of health reasons and another (Guy Drut of France) pulled out because of to a corruption trial at home.

Thirteen members from bid city countries didn’t vote in the first round:

United States (3): Jim Easton, Anita DeFrantz, Robert Ctvrtlik. Russia (3): Vitaly Smirnov, Shamil Tarpischev, Alexander Popov. Britain (3): Craig Reedie, Princess Anne, Phil Craven. France (2): Henri Serandour, Jean-Claude Killy. Spain (2): Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., Dona Pilar de Borbon.

Voting was done electronically. Members pushed a button to vote. How each member voted was not recorded.

Voting began at 5:45 p.m. Singapore time (2:45 a.m. PDT).

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The IOC’s selection was scheduled to be revealed at 4:30 a.m. PDT and is available at latimes.com/sports.

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Seal of approval

How the voting went at recent International Olympic Committee sessions to determine host cities (with year of Games, year and venue for vote; x-winning candidate):

*--* 2010 WINTER

*--*

July 2003, Prague, Czech Republic

*--* Round 1 2 Pyeongchang, S. Korea 51 53 Salzburg, Austria 16 -- x-Vancouver, Canada 40 56

*--*

*--* 2008 SUMMER

*--*

July 2001, Moscow

*--* Round 1 2 x-Beijing 44 56 Istanbul, Turkey 17 9 Osaka, Japan 6 -- Paris 15 18 Toronto 20 22

*--*

*--* 2006 WINTER

*--*

June 1999, Seoul

*--* Round 1 x-Turin, Italy 53 Sion, Switzerland 36

*--*

*--* 2004 SUMMER

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Sept. 1997, Lausanne, Switzerland

*--* Round 1 2 3 4 x-Athens 32 38 52 66 Buenos Aires 16 -- -- -- Cape Town, S. Africa 16 22 20 -- Rome 23 28 35 41 Stockholm 20 19 -- --

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*--* 2002 WINTER

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June 1995, Budapest, Hungary

*--* Round 1 x-Salt Lake City 54 Ostersund, Sweden 14 Sion, Switzerland 14 Quebec City, Canada 7

*--*

*--* 2000 SUMMER

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September 1993, Monaco

*--* Round 1 2 3 4 Beijing 32 37 40 43 Berlin 9 9 -- -- Istanbul, Turkey 7 -- -- -- Manchester, England 11 13 11 -- x-Sydney, Australia 30 30 37 45

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*--* 1998 WINTER

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June 1991, Birmingham, England

*--* Round 1 2 3 4 x-Nagano, Japan 21 30 36 46 Jaca, Spain 19 5 -- -- Ostersund, Sweden 18 25 23 -- Aosta, Italy 15 -- -- -- Salt Lake City 15 27 29 42

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*--* 1996 SUMMER

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Sept. 1990, Tokyo

*--* Round 1 2 3 4 5 Athens 23 23 26 30 35 x-Atlanta 19 20 26 34 51 Belgrade, Yugoslavia 7 -- -- -- -- Manchester, England 11 5 -- -- -- Melbourne, Australia 11 21 16 -- -- Toronto 14 17 18 22 --

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