A team of International Olympic Committee delegates kick off a three-day tour of Los Angeles yesterday as the city attempts to demonstrate its readiness to stage the 2024 Olympics.

With just four months to go until a Sept. 13 vote in Lima that will decide the race, the IOC's Evaluation Commission will spend this week studying the fine detail of Los Angeles's bid before heading to rival Paris next week. The back-to-back visits of the only two cities in the running for the 2024 Games usher in what is expected to be a frenzied final spurt of campaigning.

The bidding contest has been overshadowed in recent weeks by speculation that the IOC is aiming to offer the 2028 Olympics to whomever loses out on the 2024 Games, anxious to lock in two strong bids at a time when the pool of cities willing to stage the mammoth sporting spectacular is shrinking.