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New York selected as US bid for 2012 Olympics
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has selected New York as the US candidate for the 2012 Olympics.
Following hour-long presentations by the two finalist cities, New York beat San Francisco with 132 out of a possible 223 votes.
The process began in February 1997 when eight cities officially sought the candidate city designation from the USOC's Bid Evaluation Task Force.
During 2001, task force members visited Cinncinnati, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Tampa, Florida and Washington, DC as well as San Francisco and New York and selected Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington as the top four candidates.
In August this year it was narrowed down to the final two cities.
The International Olympic Committee will announce the final host of the 2012 Olympics in 2005, with New York's rivals for the title likely to include Rome, Toronto, Moscow, Paris, Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Madrid and possibly London - which is currently evaluating the possibility of a bid.
New York requires an estimated $5bn (£3.2bn) worth of civic developments to host the Olympics, including an Olympic Village for athletes in Queens, an 86,000-seat stadium on Manhattan's west side and aquatic facilities in Brooklyn. The San Francisco bid was based around 80 per cent of the venues being already in place.