Beijing Might Pass on Bid for 2004 : Olympics: After losing to Sydney for 2000 Games, Chinese could defer to an African city.

NEW YORK â€”  China, presumed to be the favorite for the 2004 Summer Olympics if it chooses to embark upon another campaign, might defer to an African city, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch said Saturday.

Speculating that a South African candidate will emerge before the end of the year, Samaranch said during a breakfast meeting with reporters on the final day of the U.S. Olympic Congress: “You know (the Chinese) have a special relationship with Africa. Maybe if there is an African bid, China will not bid.

“My sentiment is to get the Games in Africa in the near future. That is the only continent (other than South America) not to have the Games. Now, maybe for the first time, we will have some bidding cities from there.�

Johannesburg, Capetown and Durban are campaigning to win the designation from South Africa’s Olympic Committee as the country’s official bid city for the 2004 Summer Games, which will be awarded by the IOC in 1997.

Samaranch said that the success of that bid would be determined to a great extent by the amount of support it receives from other African countries, which will monitor the South African government’s progress as it dismantles the system of racial apartheid that prevented the nation’s athletes from competing in the Olympics for 32 years before the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona.

“We are looking ahead to what happens in April, in the elections, in South Africa,� he said.

If the 13 Africans among the IOC’s 91 members support a South African candidate, a Chinese city probably would have difficulty earning a majority of votes.

As a result in part of its contributions to African sport through the designing and construction of sports facilities, China’s bid city, Beijing, is believed to have received overwhelming support from the African IOC members in the recent voting for the 2000 Summer Games. Sydney, Australia, however, prevailed on the final ballot, 45-43.

The Chinese have not said whether they intend to bid again for 2004.

Samaranch was widely reported to have favored China for 2000, although he did not vote, but he said Saturday he believes the IOC made the right choice.

“It was the best (choice) at this moment,� he said. “Australia bid three times (for 1992, ’96 and 2000), and I think they deserved the Games. But, always, we hope the People’s Republic of China will bid again. We know they are disappointed, but maybe they will try again.�

It has been reported that the Chinese would submit Shanghai as the candidate in their next bid, but Samaranch said he believes they would remain with Beijing.