MOSCOW (AFP) - The International Olympic Committee meets tomorrow to decide the hosts for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Following are brief penpics of the five bidding cities:

BEIJING

Population: 12 million

Previous Olympics: none

Olympic bidding record: Second time; lost to Sydney in the 1993 voting for the 2000 Olympics

Major sporting events hosted: 1990 Asian Games

The bid: The strong favourites to win, Beijing have run a slick campaign under the slogan "New Beijing, Great Olympics" - but the wider issue of human rights refuses to go away.

Beijing have left nothing to chance as they seek to avoid a repeat of their last bid when they lost the 2000 Olympics to Sydney by a mere two votes.

Have promised a 20-billion-dollar facelift to rid the Chinese capital of pollution and dozens of infrastructure proposals for the city are planned.

Less than half of the proposed Olympic venues are ready but the Beijing bid nevertheless won a glowing review from the IOC's evaluation committee, with IOC insiders regarding it as "first among equals" alongside other front-runners Paris and Toronto as the vote looms.

PARIS

Population: 2 million in city proper, 11 million in Paris region

Previous Olympics: Summer Games 1900 and 1924; Winter Games in Chamonix 1924, Grenoble 1968, Albertville 1992

Olympic bidding record: lost to Barcelona for 1992 Games

Major sporting events hosted: 1998 football World Cup, world championships in various sports

The bid: Hosted the Olympics in 1924, Paris' bid for the 2008 Games enjoys heavy backing from the French government and widespread support amongst population.

France is still riding high after excellent organisation of the 1998 World Cup and can boast some of the best sports stadia in the world.

Bid includes plans to regenerate city-centre district near northern part of city around Stade de France and Montmartre, to include Olympic village and park.

Romantic aspects of bid are also Paris' strong suit - proposals include beach-volleyball under the Eiffel Tower, triathlon in the Bois de Boulogne, tennis at Roland Garros and equestrianism in the majestic park near Les Invalides.

Like Toronto and Beijing, Paris received warm praise in the evaluation report.

TORONTO

Population: 2 million in city proper

Previous Olympics: Summer Games in Montreal 1976, Winter Games in Calgary 1988

Olympic bidding record: lost to Atlanta in bid for 1996 games

Major sporting events hosted: 1996 world basketball championships

The bid: The IOC rank-and-file is reported to be impressed by the technical quality of Toronto's bid, which contains several parallels with the immensely successful Sydney 2000 Games.

Toronto bid plans were drawn up after wide consultation with athletes, according to Toronto officials.

Some 17 venues will be concentrated along the Toronto water-front, with 25 of the 28 sports involving more than 80 percent of athletes taking place there.

Sound infrastructure and a clean, safe, modern metropolis also make Toronto a strong candidate. The city would also be a popular choice with powerful US television companies.

However with North America hosting a summer Olympics as recently as 1996 with the Atlanta Games, it might leave IOC voters wary of returning to the continent so soon.

OSAKA

Population: 2.6 million

Previous Olympics: Summer Games in Tokyo 1964, Winter Games in Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998

Olympic bidding record: first time

Major sporting events hosted: 1998 world volleyball championships, 2001 world table tennis championships, 2001 East Asian Games

The bid: Together with Istanbul, Osaka is one of the rank outsiders, effectively ruled out of contention in May following the release of the IOC evaluation report.

Despite a bid which has impressed many in several quarters - three man-made islands in Osaka Bay will share the bulk of the venues with 50 percent of events held within four miles of the Olympic village - Osaka has been left behind by Beijing, Paris and Toronto.

First blow came when evaluation commission raised doubts over whether Osaka had calculated funding for infrastructure correctly.

Osaka's bid suffered another knock later in May when the East Asian Games - viewed as a test run for the Olympics - were played out to dismal crowds, with only 246,000 of 760,000 seats being used.

ISTANBUL

Population: 11 million

Previous Olympics: none

Olympic bidding record: third consecutive bid, following 2000 and 2004

Major sporting events hosted: world championships in various sports

The bid: The third time Istanbul have bid for the Olympics promises to be third time unlucky for the Turkish capital.

Despite massive backing - Turkey stands alone in having a law granting full political and financial support from the government to any Turkish city bidding for the games - Istanbul has little or no chance of success.

They were written off as serious contenders after the publication of the IOC evaluation report, which aired fears over infrastructure and doubts about the city's ability to be ready on time.

Their bid leaders remain bullish on the city's prospects, but it seems Istanbul's campaign will only become significant when they drop out of the voting after the first or second round and the remaining cities chase their votes.