Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco have submitted their applications for hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced on Friday.

Each met the deadline by delivering a 60-page report that gives detailed descriptions of their plans for the Games in 10 major categories, the USOC said in a statement e-mailed to Xinhua.

The categories included games concept, political support, venues, transportation, accommodations, finance, security, experience, international strategy and USOC partnership plans.

"Today is an important milestone for Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco as they round the first major turn in the race to become the US 2016 Candidate City for the Games," said Bob Ctvrtlik, the USOC Vice President responsible for the bid process.

"All of us at the USOC are grateful to these three cities for working so diligently to complete the Questionnaires we received today. Our team is looking forward to evaluating these responses -and providing the cities with additional input and guidance for further plan enhancements."

The Questionnaire submission is the second significant milestone in the six- step domestic bidding process created by the USOC. The cities had six weeks to prepare their Questionnaire responses and had received direct feedback from the USOC on the initial plans they submitted in June.

"Our ultimate goal is to help each of these cities build the best possible Olympic plans so we can select from among them the city with the best chance of winning internationally," Ctvrtlik said.

"We believe we are on track to produce a bid of true technical excellence that can stand up to the highest competitive standards while delivering major benefits that can serve and strengthen the Olympic Movement internationally."

The USOC will release a summary of its evaluation of the Questionnaires in late October. A reduction in the field of cities currently under consideration is possible.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2006)