South Africa's Olympic committee president repeated his country's intention to bid for the Summer Games on Wednesday targeting July's historic IOC session in Durban as a chance to impress after a troubled internal process to choose a possible candidate city. South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee President Gideon Sam stopped short of saying if it would bid for the next available Summer Games, in 2020, but picked out the July 4-9 International Olympic Committee session- the first in Africa- as a key selling point following the country's successful staging of the 2010 football World Cup. "With our intention to one day bid for the Olympics, this session will give us another opportunity to put our best forward to impress the world leaders in sport," Sam said, as organizers launched the logo and a dedicated website for the 123rd IOC session. "This is a first for the continent of Africa ... For me, this is another opportunity to show world leaders in sport what we can put together in this country." South Africa earned widespread praise for its hosting of football's biggest event, and subsequently announced it would bid to bring the Olympics to the continent for the first time 10 years later. Olympic body SASCOC endorsed east coast port city Durban as its candidate, but then pulled back after other cities complained they weren't properly consulted in the selection process, leading to a messy internal squabble. South Africa is still expected to bid for 2020 and Sam has said Durban is the front-runner for any possible bid. But, stung by criticism after its hasty backing of the city, SASCOC is now likely to wait until after July's IOC session to formally announce any Olympic intentions. The IOC has given national Olympic committees until Sept. 1 to put forward their candidates for the 2020 Games, with Rome the only city so far to formally announce it will run. Tokyo, Madrid, Istanbul, Doha and Dubai are among other potential bidders, with the winner to be announced in 2013. South Africa's third largest city and a World Cup venue, Durban will make history as the first African city to hold an IOC session- where the host for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be chosen by secret ballot on July 6. Munich, Annecy in France and South Korea's Pyeongchang are the three contenders for those Winter Games. Sam also said Wednesday that South African President Jacob Zuma had assembled a team of cabinet ministers to work with Durban organizers "to make this session a very successful one." "Leaders of State, many members of royalty, sporting luminaries and some of the most powerful people in world sport will gather in Durban during this session," Sam added. Danny Jordaan, who led South Africa's 2010 World Cup effort, is also a member of the local organizing committee for the IOC session.
