Doha struck a defiant and optimistic pose following the news the city had not made the cut for the final three candidates bidding to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

The Qatari capital, along with Azerbaijan's Baku, was not shortlisted by the International Olympic Committee, leaving Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo in a three-horse race.

But while disappointed, the Qataris said it was a matter of "when, not if" Doha would stage the Games, and that the city would look forward to the 2024 race.

"This is a great disappointment for the Doha team," Doha 2020 CEO Noora Al Mannai said following Wednesday's announcement in a packed Quebec City ballroom.

"With so many sports venues already in place and budgeted for, we felt that we offered the IOC great certainty and a low cost Games plan as well as an exciting legacy vision, especially around developing women's sport in the Middle East.

"However for Doha, it will always be a question of when, not if," Al Mannai added in a statement on Thursday.

General Secretary of the Qatar Olympic Committee Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the Qataris were surprised by the decision, and would study the IOC's report and reflect on its findings.

"We are obviously very disappointed not to become a Candidate City for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games," he said.

"Whilst we felt that the hosting plans and legacy vision we submitted ... were strong and innovative, we of course respect the decision of the IOC Executive Board."

Qatar, which will host the 2022 soccer World Cup, possesses the financial muscle to carry off staging an Olympics but the tiny Gulf nation was unable to convince the IOC to take a chance on holding the Summer Games in October.

It was not just the threat of searing temperatures that frightened away the IOC, but also the prospect of low television ratings if the Olympics was to go up against other major sporting events.

The winning city will be decided in Buenos Aires in September 2013 when the IOC votes on the 2020 host.