BUENOS AIRES and Cape Town stayed in the race to make Olympic history yesterday when they were named in the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) final short-list of five candidates to host the 2004 Summer Games.

The Games have never been, staged in Africa or South America. Although the two cities have fierce competition from the other short-listed candidates from Europe - favourites Rome, Athens and Stockholm - their names will now go into a vote of the IOC's session in September when the venue will be decided.

The IOC announced the short-list after studying a detailed technical report of all 11 bidding cities and hearing presentations from the candidates.

Cape Town faced questions about crime and possible political instability in the future, but its delegation was confident of, making the list. "This is a vote for Africa, not just South Africa," the country's IOC chief Sam Ramsamy said after hearing the announcement in Lausanne.

The other candidates - Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville and St Petersburg - were regarded as having weaker bids and left disappointed. Some were clearly bitter. "Are we seeing here the emergence of a Christian crusaders' mentality?" Istanbul official Erman Tuncer said. "The two-billion strong Muslim community of the world is being excluded from the Olympics."