Chicago are the favourites to win the race for the 2016 Olympics after the International Olympic Committee narrowed the field from seven hopefuls to four candidate cities.

Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid were included by the IOC's executive board while Prague, Doha and Baku in Azerbaijan failed to make the cut.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said: "All the bids were of a very high standard.

"It is a tribute to the health of the Olympic Movement that the field was so strong. I congratulate the candidate cities and I hope that those cities which were unsuccessful this time have benefited from the process.''

The IOC executive board took the decision at a meeting in Athens today, one that will have disappointed leaders of the Doha campaign in particular.

Doha had hired a high-powered team including London 2012 bid communications chief Mike Lee in the hope of at least making it to the final vote in October next year at the IOC Congress in Copenhagen.

Chicago's hopes will have risen even higher given the small number of candidates and by the fact by then it will be 20 years since an American city have hosted the summer Games.

They will have to improve the technical aspect of their bid however after an IOC evaluation report ranked Tokyo and Madrid much higher than Chicago, with Rio a distant fourth.

Tokyo remain the strongest rivals as it would be a surprise if Madrid succeeded because that would mean back-to-back Olympics in Europe.

Rio de Janeiro have the most to prove in terms of being able to organise such a huge event, especially given the fact that Brazil are already deemed to be lagging behind in their preparations for football's 2014 World Cup.

Doha's bid failed mainly because of their plan to stage the Games in October to avoid the ferocious summer heat.

IOC communications director Giselle Davies said: "This would have conflicted

with the international sporting calendar but it does not mean that Doha or another Middle Eastern country will not host the Olympic Games in the future.

The IOC want to see the Games held all around the world.''

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