THE NEW YORK BID Olympic X - most sports on two intersecting transport axes Athletes' village on East River in Queens - all events to be staged within 32km Olympic stadium in west Manhattan - floating warm-up track on Hudson River Venues include Yankee Stadium, Giants Stadium and Flushing Meadows

New York's bid team faces an increasingly tough task to bring the Games to the Big Apple for the first time.

The city was ranked down in fourth when the International Olympic Committee examined the five candidate cities' plans last May.

And it does not look like it has jumped up the pecking order in the final inspection report released on 6 June.

New York was nearly forced to withdraw from the bidding race after plans for a $2 billion Manhattan stadium were thwarted because the New York's State Public Authorities Control Board refused to allow public money to be used to build it.

But with less than a month to go before the final vote, organisers announced a new venue deal with the New York Mets baseball team, which is building a new home in the borough of Queens.

New York's team say no venue will be more than 20 miles from the Olympic village, at the centre of the X on the East River in Queens.

Baseball woud be staged at the famous Yankee Stadium, tennis at Flushing Meadows, basketball at Madison Square Garden and the triathlon in Central Park.

NEW YORK Population: 8,100,000 Estimated total cost: $2.7bn Last US Games: Atlanta 1996 Betting odds: 10-1 Rundown on the rivals

Softball, road cycling, mountain biking and equestrian events would be across the water to the south on Staten Island, and football and volleyball to the west in New Jersey.

New York's profile on the world stage is unsurpassed, and the rebuilding process following the 11 September terrorist attacks would give an NY Games an emotive appeal.

Direct US involvement inevitably makes the task of marketing the Games easier, and New York's cultural diversity gives it a strong card to play to the IOC.

But Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Winter Games has fuelled speculation that a 2012 summer Olympics in North America is unlikely.