The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board spent more than two hours discussing the letter sent by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) last month before finally giving the go-ahead.

Under the proposal from the QOC, the Olympics would start at the end of September and carry on until October, just as Sydney did when they hosted the 2000 Games.

The IOC's decision will not be made public until they have officially informed the QOC.

Now their request has been granted, Doha must decide whether to join Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo in the race for the 2020 Games.

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