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Rome, Istanbul and Doha are thought to be readying bids to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

The three cities, which are also expected to bid for the 2020 Olympics, could be joined in the 2017 race by an African city and the loser out of Beijing and London, who are vying to stage the 2015 championships.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is scheduled to decide on the 2015 hosts at the meeting of its ruling council in November before officially opening the bidding for 2017 in January next year.

There had been speculation that the IAAF may award 2015 and 2017 together by giving one edition of the championships to Beijing and the other to London.

But IAAF president Lamine Diack claimed that there is so much interest in 2017 that the organisation has given an undertaking to potential bidders that it will not do this.

He told Inside The Games: "It would not be fair because several other leading cities have told us that they want to bid for the 2017 World Championships."

Africa has never hosted the championships before and Diack added: "It is something that we will look at. It is possible that a city from South Africa or Morocco may bid."