August 29 - Las Vegas have submitted a bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics without the permission of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), it was revealed tonight.

The letter, dated August 26 and sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and USOC, says, "this is intended to serve as the Vegas 2020 Bid Committee's Application Letter to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games."

The correspondence, sent to ensure it arrived at the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne before the September 1 deadline, is not accompanied by any supporting paperwork from the USOC.

"This Application Letter is not accompanied by a corresponding letter from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) our national olympic [sic] committee (NOC) which on 22 August 2011 publicly declined to consent to the application of any US city to bid for the Summer Games of the XXXII Olympiad," reports GamesBids.com, who obtained the copy of the letter.

There has been plenty of speculation that the US would put forward a bid with several cities besides Las Vegas declaring an interest, including Chicago and New York City.

But the USOC have repeatedly insisted that they will not launch a campaign to host the Olympics and Paralympics until a a solution to the row over revenue-sharing with the IOC has been found.

But the Las Vegas group have asked the IOC to judge whether a city can bid for the Games without the support of its NOC.

They want to know if they can obtain the USOC's signature of support at the time he Application File is due to be submitted on February 15, 2012.

"This would keep the US alive in the bidding process," they wrote in the letter obtained by GamesBids.com.

It is understood that the IOC have already rejected the approach from the Las Vegas group.

A USOC spokesman said tonight that they stood by their decision not to bid and had no plans to change their mind.

Source:www.insidethegames.biz

By Duncan Mackay