New York’s political leaders took a break from their heated battle over the proposed Jets stadium on the far West Side of Manhattan yesterday long enough to crow about a press report that indicated the city was one of three front-runners to host the 2012 Olympics.

Leaks from a draft report of the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission and an on-the-record interview with a key Australian Olympics official suggested that the competition for the 2012 Games has come down to Paris, London, and New York.

“If it is true, it is enormously encouraging,” the president of NYC 2012, Jay Kriegel, told The New York Sun. “This is a press report of what a June report will say, so we have to wait for the actual report. What we did know was last May, we were ranked fourth in the cities, and we made big changes in response to the IOC’s concerns and we gave them a dramatically different plan for the Olympic Village.” That new plan had, apparently, addressed some of the commission’s problems with the city’s bid.

New York Olympics supporters got the good news in an Agence France Presse report yesterday that cited an IOC member close to the deliberations saying the 13-member evaluation commission, which was in New York last month, had started work on its analysis of the five finalists and a definite hierarchy has emerged.

“No one doubts that all five cities can hold a successful Olympics, but anyone who reads the report will be able to see that four are better than the fifth city and that three are better than the fourth,” AFP quoted the source as saying.

“It will be London, Paris, and New York,” he said. Madrid and Moscow are the other two finalists.

Several members of the evaluation commission told the news agency that London had vastly improved its standing in the competition after the evaluation visit and that the London presentation was the best of the five.

The Bloomberg administration’s point man for NYC2012, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, told the Sun earlier this month that he was fully satisfied with the city’s presentation to the evaluation commission.

Analysts said that now the politics of choosing a host city gets into high gear. London and Paris could end up canceling each other out and New York could emerge the surprise winner, some suggested. Several European IOC members are said to be considering supporting New York this time so that Europe would be assured a 2016 Olympiad.

For New York, the big question mark remains the fate of a new West Side stadium, which NYC2012 has made the linchpin of its Olympics bid. The facility, which would be home to the New York Jets during the football season, would be the city’s Olympic Stadium.

The IOC has made it clear that if there is no stadium, the city will not get the Games. That potential spanner in the works may be removed as soon as tomorrow. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board is scheduled to vote on whether to accept a $720 million bid from the Jets to build a stadium over the Hudson Rail Yards. If the MTA decides instead of take a $760 million bid from the Jets’ rival, Cablevision, to develop the site, then the city’s Olympics bid is basically over.

“The vote on Thursday is critical and we need the stadium to get the Games,” Mr. Kriegel said. “This is a plan we have been working on for years and years. It is a great plan. This building that we’re talking about is going to be used most of the year as a convention hall. And that is the most valuable kind of activity for the city’s economy.”

Representatives of the NYC2012 Circle of Olympians and Paralympians went to Albany yesterday to put pressure on lawmakers there to support the stadium. They met with Governor Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to press the trio to approve the stadium before the IOC votes in July on the host city.

“We all want to see the Games come to New York, but we know that it will not be possible without the construction of the New York Sports & Convention Center. We are grateful today to have had the opportunity to visit with key Albany leaders to share our views,” Donna de Varona, senior adviser for sports for NYC2012, said. “The more than 1,900 athletes in New York’s Circle of Olympians are the largest group of Olympians and Paralympians that have ever supported a bid, and we want to bring the Games to this diverse and exciting city.”

The Sydney Morning Herald offered more evidence that New York was rising in the Olympic bid ranks. The Oceania National Olympic Committee president and Australia IOC vice president, Kevan Gosper, said the “conventional wisdom is Paris probably has its head still in front and has been a constant bidder, but London is also performing very, very well,” he told the newspaper. “New York has never had the Games before,” he said, “and they’ve got a spectacular theme.”

Mr. Gosper also said neither Madrid nor Moscow should be counted out yet. A former IOC president, Juan Antonio Samarach, is bringing his weight to bear on the committee to choose his country, Spain, for the 2012 Games.

The Oceania committee, which includes 15 Pacific Rim countries, sits down with delegates from the five cities this weekend to hear 15-minute presentations on the bids. Mr. Doctoroff is representing New York at the Brisbane session. In mid-April, he is going to the SportAccord conference in Berlin to lobby voting members, and he plans to attend a National Olympic Committees of Africa meeting in Ghana in mid-June. The final sales pitch goes to all the IOC voting members in July during a meeting in Singapore.