The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the final shortlist of cities bidding to host the 2012 Olympic games.

London, Paris, Madrid, Moscow and New York all made it to the final five, while Havana, Leipzig, Rio de Janeiro and Istanbul were all axed.

The five candidate cities will now have until 15 November to submit their detailed plans for the games to the IOC, before the final decision is made in Singapore in July 2005.

Barbara Cassani, London 2012 chair, said: “It is an honour to be chosen as a candidate city and the selection will enable us to continue to develop our plans to provide the best facilities ad services for Olympic athletes.”

Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomed the decision.

“I am very pleased that London have been named a candidate city. A huge amount of work has gone into ensuring London’s bid will deliver a memorable games for the athletes, for the capital, for our whole country and the entire Olympic family.”

The London bid received acclaim for its plans of accommodation, but was criticised for the poor level of transportation.

In its report, the IOC said: “With the exception of Olympic Park and some venues in East London, the average travel distances are amongst the longest of all applicants.

“Whilst East London transport operations appear to be manageable, connections to other venues will be challenging for Olympic and spectator transport. Detailed transport operational information will be required to assess their feasibility.”

Should London’s bid be successful, it would be the third time the city hosts the games – the previous London games were in 1908 and 1948.

The IOC reported that the decision for the five-strong short list had been made following a “unanimous consensus”. Details: www.olympic.org