Five bidders for 2011 and 2013 athletics worlds

Dec 3, 2006, 9:42 GMT

Monte Carlo - Five cities from three continents have submitted bids to host the 2011 or 2013 world athletics championships, the ruling body IAAF announced on Sunday.

The Australian city of Brisbane, Sweden's Gothenburg and the Russian capital Moscow are aiming to host either the 2011 or 2013 edition.

South Korea's Daegu is bidding for 2011 only and Barcelona of Spain for 2013.

There was speculation about bids from Croatia and the United States as well, but no bids were received by the December 1 deadline set by the IAAF. The US is the most successful nation in the sport at world championships, but has never hosted the worlds.

The IAAF said it will now review the bids ahead of the election of the host cities for both championships, on March 27, 2007, by the IAAF Council at its meeting in Mombasa, Kenya.

Gothenburg is the only bidder to have staged the worlds before, in 1995.

But the other four have experience with big sports events as well. Moscow and Barcelona hosted Olympic Games in 1980 and 1992, respectively. Brisbane staged the Commonwealth Games in 1982 while several matches at the 2002 football World Cup were played in Daegu.

The 2007 worlds will take place in Osaka, Japan, and the 2009 edition in Germany's capital Berlin.