Chicago has been the favourite to win the vote but Rio de Janeiro is increasingly being seen as a major threat when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes at its Session in Copenhagen on October 2.

 

 

But Ryan, who is currently attending the World Championships in Berlin which up to 60 IOC members have attended, is refusing to rule out Madrid and Tokyo, who are also bidding.

 

He said: "I've said all along that there are four great cities.

 

"From my perspective, there's going to be ebbing and flowing on where people are.

 

"At one point everybody's talking about city A, then city B.

 

"People have their predictions about who the finalists are going to be.

 

"I suppose if you've got 99 people in a room, you get 33 that say one thing, 33 that say another and 33 that say another.

 

"I think it's very, very tight.

 

"People have all these predictions.

 

"But I predict a really, really tight vote all the way through.

 

"What's come clear to me is that you probably don't want to be the favorite going into the vote.

 

"Sometimes people interpret actions and behavior maybe different than they're intended or different than they really are.

 

"There seems to be a momentum that's hard to predict."

 

All the cities have employed highly-paid consultants to try to predict which way the IOC members will vote but Ryan claimed that he has not yet detected any particular pattens.

 

He said: "It's an independent body, I'm impressed by that.

 

"I was a little bit surprised.

 

"Early on I heard a lot about bloc votes, but I don't believe in bloc votes.

 

"I think they all make up their own minds."

 

Many experts are predicting that Chicago will win if United States President Barack Obama turns up in Copenhagen to lobby on their behalf.

 

But Ryan still does not know if Obama will be able to travel to the Danish capital.

 

He said: "We just don't have any sense of what his schedule will be.

 

"We know this: that he is a passionately strong supporter of the bid, and he's a really strong believer."

 

Ryan, though, plans to lobby right up to the time of the vote in Copenhagen.

 

He said: "I've learned three important lessons from IOC members.

 

"Don't assume anything, stay humble, and work, work, work right up to the very end."