Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo will all gather at the Hilton Hotel and Towers in the Nigerian capital where the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) are holding their 13th quadrennial meeting, starting tomorrow and finishing on Tuesday.

 

A delegation from London 2012, led by chairman Sebastian Coe, is also due to attend to update delegates on the progress that they are making.

 

Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is expected to be the guest of honour.

 

This year’s General Assembly is the first in Nigeria since the recent movement of ANOCA’s headquarters from Cameroon to Abuja.

 

The four cities will be hoping particularly for the opportunity of presenting their cases to the 18 IOC African members, including Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, who earlier this year headed the Evaluation Commission's inspection of the four cities.

 

Rio's delegation will undoutbedly attract the most attention as it is due to include Pele.

 

He will be joined by Carlos Nuzman, the President of Rio 2016, Orlando Silva, Brazil’s Sports Minister, Carlos Roberto Osório, Rio 2016 secretary general and Robson da Silva, the 1988 Olympic 200 metres bronze medallist.

Nuzman said: “We are very excited about going to the ANOCA General Assembly with an impressive delegation that showcases support from our Government and one of the world’s greatest athletes for the bid.

 

"Brazil has important historical ties with Africa and as we saw this week with President Lula’s participation at the African Union Summit in Libya, this has evolved into very strong relationships between Brazil and Africa that are steeped in cooperation and trade.

“We are determined to show that the Games can be held not only in a new continent but in every continent and hosting the Games in Rio would send a powerful signal about the possibility of the Games being hosted in all regions of the world, including Africa.”

Pele said: “I enjoyed one of the greatest moments of my career in Nigeria – in Lagos in 1967 – when I played an exhibition game with Santos.

 

"Of all the progress made in sport that I’ve seen in my career, the rise of football and athletics in Africa is one of the greatest.

 

"I am committed to fostering the inspiration of sport to young people worldwide and it is a very special opportunity for me to travel to Nigeria to witness this progress firsthand and explain to them how the Games in Rio in 2016 would also contribute to their ongoing progress.”
 

Chicago's delegation will be led by Patrick Ryan, its chairman and chief executive, World Sport Chicago President Michael Conley, United States IOC member Anita De Frantz and United States Olympic Committee first vice president of International Relations Bob Ctvrtlik.

Ryan said: “We welcome every opportunity to share our vision for the Games and connect with IOC members who will vote in a few short months to select the 2016 Host City.

 

"We feel our plan will deliver a extraordinary Games experience for athletes, spectators and visitors, and during our presentation we hope to convey Chicago ’s strong desire to be an Olympic city to the many IOC members from the African countries in attendance.”

The IOC is due to choose the Host City at its Session in Copenhagen on October 2.