COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (November 2, 2002) -  The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Board of Directors today selected New York as the U.S. 2012 Olympic Games Candidate City. New York won with 132 of 223 possible weighted votes.    The 123-member USOC board voted to back the East Coast city's bid to host the Games of the XXXth Olympiad following hour-long presentations by both New York and San Francisco, the two finalists in a process that began in February 1997 at an informational meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. The vote of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to select the site for the 2012 Olympic Games is scheduled for 2005.    Olympian Charles M. Moore (Washington, D.C.) chaired the USOC's Bid Evaluation Task Force, which was charged with identifying the U.S. city with the best chance of winning the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Other members of the selection task force included former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini (who served as vice chair), Frank Aires (Colorado Springs), Roland Betts (New York, N.Y.), Christopher Cole (Flint, Mich.), Evie Dennis (Denver, Colo.), Keith Ferguson (Colorado Springs), Herman Frazier (Honolulu, Hawaii), Greg Harney (Colorado Springs), Stacey Johnson (San Antonio, Texas), Reyne Quackenbush (Parlin, N.J.), Early Reese (Colorado Springs) and Ann Swisshelm (Chicago, Ill.).    About a dozen U.S. cities initially expressed interest in hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, and an unprecedented eight officially sought the candidate city designation from the USOC. Each of the cities prepared bid proposals incorporating 19 specific themes, including national/regional/ bid city characteristics, legal aspects, customs and immigration formalities, environmental protection, meteorological and environmental conditions, security, medical and health services, official program of the XXXth Olympiad, general sports organization, sports, Olympism and culture, Olympic Village, accommodation, transportation, technology, media, finance, marketing, and guarantees. The USOC also asked for supplementary information regarding sport event experience and sports infrastructure, as well as additional information regarding the Paralympic Games, international strategies, and organizing committee governance and ethics.    During the summer of 2001, task force members visited Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington, D.C., as well as New York and San Francisco, to tour key facilities and meet with each city's bid leadership. In October 2001 following a report from the Bid Evaluation Task Force, the USOC Executive Committee selection Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington to continue their quests to be named the U.S. 2012 Olympic Games Candidate City. The evaluation process used by the USOC mirrored the IOC's candidature procedure, which rates each city against specific criteria rather than versus each other. On August 27, the Bid Evaluation Task Force selected New York and San Francisco as the two finalists that would make presentations to the USOC Board of Directors prior to the vote of its membership.