Madrid's city council agreed on Thursday to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, local media said.

The decision was made in an extraordinary session exactly a year after the International Olympic Committee chose London, instead of Madrid, to host the 2012 Games.

Madrid mayor, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, said Madrid would organize the best Olympic Games in history, thanks in part to experience gained in the 1992 Barcelona Games.

"We already have many of the elements need to make the first step towards the Olympic goal," the mayor said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2006)