Madrid  - Madrid is set to get 25-50 per cent of the votes in the key decision Friday on the host of the 2016 Olympics, enough to fight "a good battle," Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr said Monday.

"If we put it in terms of percentages, we have significantly more than 25 per cent, but we do not make it to 50 (per cent)," Samaranch Jr. said of the first round of voting.

"The floor of votes we have, the people we believe in, is enough to fight a good battle," he told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview in Madrid.

With 97-99 members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) registered to vote Friday in the first round, Samaranch's prediction would mean over 25 votes but less than 50, a solid amount of support to get past the dangerous initial stage as the Spanish capital takes on Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

Joao Havelange, 93, FIFA president 1974-1998 and the only Brazilian member of the IOC, said recently that Rio had secured about 20 votes.

"With all due respect for our senior member, I hope he has them. I would not like to talk about figures," said Samaranch Jr.

"If I had to bet money, I would put it on Madrid," said the only Spanish member of the IOC, although he admitted that he does not like betting.

As the son of Juan Antonio Samaranch - who led the IOC 1980-2001 - he has excellent insider knowledge of the IOC. However, Samaranch Jr insists that he is not in a position to guess what will happen Friday.

"If any of my colleagues tell you that they know, either they are reckless or they are lying. Nobody knows, nobody."

The personal relations of candidate cities with IOC members are of course important, and Samaranch Jr knows that. This is why he would be willing to have coffee with US President Barack Obama, who confirmed Monday that he will be in Copenhagen for the crucial vote.

"Of course I would have coffee with President Obama," Samaranch Jr said. "With Lula (Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva), with the Japanese prime minister (Yukio Hatoyama)... with whoever invited me."

"For the IOC it is an honour to have heads of state and government in Copenhagen. That is evidence of the utmost respect for the Olympic movement, we are very grateful and appreciative of their presence."

Unlike in Singapore 2005, when the 2012 election took place on the penultimate day of the IOC assembly, Copenhagen will not provide many chances to scrape votes, since the election is set to happen at the start of 10 days of meetings.

"There is not a lot of time. What we have to do now is some perfect presentations Friday. We have already had enough of the rest," Samaranch Jr said.(dpa)