It will be the single most dramatic moment of the 125th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires. When the envelope is torn open to reveal Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo as 2020 hosts of the Olympics, the decision will transform the very life of the winning city.

Three is the smallest number of cities to contest a final vote for a summer Games since 1981, when the South Korean capital Seoul beat the Japanese city Nagoya to win the 1988 Games. Many considered this a high risk. Although a ceasefire had been in force since 1953, the two Koreas were still technically at war.

"Seoul had not had many contacts with the Olympic family back then," recalled IOC member Un Yong Kim later.

Up to that time his country had only staged one World Championship, in shooting, but "Seoul was more modern than many people realised," said Kim and against the odds those Games were very successful.

As recently as 1978, the IOC had a one horse race. Tehran, then ruled by the Shah, announced in 1975 that they would bid for the 1984 Olympics but later withdrew. Los Angeles was left as the only candidate. They announced their Games would be staged by private enterprise and upset purists when they decided to charge runners to participate in the Olympic Torch relay.

A former travel company executive Peter Ueberroth led the Organising Committee and turned a handsome profit. It proved a turning point for the Olympic Movement as cities now queued up to host the Games.

Seoul 1988 was considered to be a successful Olympics but there originally had been doubts over the decision to award the Games to the South Korean capital


This had not always been the case. In 1904, Berlin graciously stood aside after an impassioned plea from Roman Mayor Prospero Colonna to stage the 1908 Games.

Then IOC President Pierre de Coubertin said Rome was "a sumptuous toga with which to clothe Olympism". But Rome soon ran into financial difficulties and the eruption of Vesuvius put paid to their dreams. London stepped in. The Romans had to wait until 1960 for another chance.

The Games grew rapidly and German Kaiser Wilhelm attended the opening of Berlin's stadium intended for the 1916 Olympics, but war soon made them impossible.

Antwerp held the first Games when the fighting stopped but there was no shortage of candidates for the 1924 Games. A total of 14 cities expressed initial interest,and six eventually made presentations before Paris was chosen to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the IOC.

Amsterdam in 1928 made it five European Cities in a row. There was no continental rotation but Coubertin had by this time suggested that one in three Games should go to "the new world". In 1932 Los Angeles held the Games.

For 1936, there came bids from Buenos Aires in South America and Alexandria in Africa. IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour informed his colleagues of additional interest from Dublin, Budapest, Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and four German cities. The IOC chose Berlin. It proved a fateful choice when the Nazis later came to power.

A decision to award the 1936 Olympics to Berlin proved fateful when the Nazis under Adolf Hitler came to power


Military aggression soon forced the IOC to move the 1940 Games from Tokyo after the Japanese invaded Manchuria and the Games were re-assigned to Helsinki.

War made Olympic sport impossible, though the sequence of Games includes the 12th, which were scheduled for Helsinki in 1940, and the 13th, which had been set for London in 1944, although both were cancelled.

Only a few days after the war ended, IOC President Sigfrid Edström, determined the Games should resume as soon as possible, called the Executive Committee together in London. Voting was by post and London was chosen to host the 1948 Olympics.

Helsinki's installation, initially planned for 1940 finally saw Olympic competition in 1952.

Until this point, the Olympics had been staged exclusively in Europe or America. In 1949, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Montreal were all eliminated by the final round of voting along with Mexico City. Melbourne beat Buenos Aires by a single vote and became the first Southern Hemisphere city to host the Games.

The road to 1956 proved rocky, however. Three years out, IOC member Hugh Weir reported on "one thing that worries us". They had received a letter from Earl Page of the Australian Health Ministry. "To permit horses to enter Australia for the Olympic Games would involve our livestock industries in a serious risk which would be quite unwarranted," he wrote.

The IOC were unhappy but, at their 1954 Session in Athens, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles and Stockholm all bid for the Equestrian Games. The Swedes polled 25 of the 47 votes and competitions were held in the very stadium where the horses had made their debut in 1912.

The first Olympics had yet to visit Asia but when the IOC gathered in Munich to choose the host city for 1964 Tokyo beat Detroit, Vienna and Brussels in the first round of voting.

The massacre of Israeli athletes overshadowed the 1972 Olympics in Munich

The Olympics continued to seek new horizons. Mexico City were elected 1968 hosts despite concerns over high altitude. Concerns over the size and cost were growing. Munich's magnificent facilities for the 1972 Games proved a lasting legacy for the city, but a huge financial cost and the killing of Israeli athletes overshadowed everything.

"Money has been stressed too much. The Olympics could no more have a deficit than a man a baby," said Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau as he masterminded their successful bid for 1976.

Unusually, severe winters and industrial unrest caused delays and costs spiralled. Montreal's showpiece stadium was unfinished when the Olympics began. Local taxpayers continued to pay for them well into the 1990s.

The future seemed bleak when the United States, Germany, Japan and Canada led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Even IOC President Lord Killanin called the Games "joyless". Many felt they had no future, but despite a tit for tat Soviet bloc boycott in 1984, Los Angeles showed a profit of some $225 million (£144 million/€171 million). As a result,The next host city competition was the most competitive in years.

Los Angeles in 1984 was so successful that it helped revive interest among cities around the world wanting to host the Olympics

Amsterdam, Brisbane, Birmingham,Paris, Belgrade and Barcelona presented their case for 1992 to the IOC. New Delhi withdrew before the final vote. Barcelona's success was masterminded by charismatic Mayor Pasqual Maragall.

Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto all joined the rush to bid for the 1996 Centennial Games. 1896 hosts Athenians dreamed of "The Golden Games". Instead, the IOC chose the Southern American city of Atlanta. The Greek capital did eventually stage the Olympics in 2004.

In the meantime, the campaign for 2000 was contested by five cities, but the real head to head was between Sydney and Beijing, whose bid came barely four years after the massacre of students in Tiananmen Square.

Sydney's bid chief later revealed he had planned a campaign which highlighted China's shortcomings in human rights but "could not be sourced back to Australia". Others on his committee vetoed the plan.

When decision day came in Monte Carlo, Beijing led after three rounds but Sydney eventually edged home by two votes.

Beijing's time finally came in Moscow in 2001 when Juan Antonio Samaranch pulled their name from the envelope to host the 2008 Games.

Election day is now a television spectacle in its own right. Voting is computerised, members press a button on a handheld box. It is a far cry from the days of postal ballots. The result is known only to the scrutineers, drawn from senior IOC members. A television special increases the drama before the envelope containing the name of the winning city is handed to the IOC President.

As would be Olympic cities increased in number, a qualifying competition was introduced. Cities submitting their initial responses to the IOC Questionnaire are "Applicant Cities". In 2005, Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig and Rio fell by the wayside at this stage, as the IOC chose London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris and New York as "Candidate Cities".

The rules had been tightened after the bidding excesses in the race for the 2002 Winter Games were exposed. IOC members were no longer allowed to visit bidding cities.

Celebrities remained keen to support the Olympic Movement David Beckham's presence in Singapore in 2005 on behalf of London 2012 caused a media frenzy.

The Paris team called on President Jacques Chirac, Madrid were supported by Queen Sofia, a reserve for the Greek sailing team in 1960. When Madrid bid again for the 2016 Games, her Olympian husband King Juan Carlos, a sailor at Munich 1972, came before the IOC.

Air force One also swept into Copenhagen as President Obama made the case for Chicago, but it was Brazil's President Lula who celebrated alongside Pele.

IOC President Jacques Rogge announces that Rio de Janeiro have been awarded the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics

Long-serving Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, concerned at the parade of national leaders asked colleagues to "give some consideration to our policy of having heads of states attend presentations by bid committees. I am not sure that we may be on the best possible ground there. There are some risks that we should assess and not simply be flattered by the attention of heads of states."

When the road to 2020 began, Baku and Doha were amongst applicants but only Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo made the cut. All three made presentations at the extraordinary IOC session in Lausanne in July, but on Saturday (September 7) in Buenos Aires, only one can fulfill their Olympic dream.

Born in Hackney, a stone's throw from the 2012 Olympic Stadium, Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Sky Sports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and TalkSPORT, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications.