The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) have written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially requesting that they be permitted to switch the dates of the event from July and August to October or November if they are are awarded the Games, insidethegames understands.

The matter is top of the agenda for the IOC's ruling Executive Board when they meet here on the eve of the World Athletic Championships, which are due to open on Saturday (August 27).

If the request is accepted by the IOC then Doha are expected to officially declare themselves as bidders before the September 1 deadline, joining Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo.

But, if it is rejected, then it is unlikely that they will bid.

The average high temperature in Doha during July and August is above 106 degrees while in October and November it drops to under a 100, still hot but at least a figure that athletes can cope with more easily.

Four years ago, Doha's bid for 2016 was controversially cut from the short-list because their proposed dates were outside the window that the IOC had published.

They claimed that IOC President Jacques Rogge had led them to believe that they could host the Games outside the window, just as Sydney had done in 2000 when they started in September and finished in October.

The IOC changed the criteria for this contest and any cities who propose to hold the Games outside the normal Olympic window of between July 15 and August 31 had until July 29 to make their intentions known.

There had been claims that the QOC had not submitted a letter in time.

But they sent it to the IOC in Lausanne on July 28, insidethegames understands.

The dates issue is a particularly sensitive one following FIFA's controversial decision last year to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar and the subsequent calls to move the tournament from its traditional June/July slot to January to avoid the scorching summer heat in the Middle East.

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