British Expatriate Network

London tactics upset Paris mayor

Bertrand Delanoe, mayor of Paris
More Paris reaction
Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe has questioned the tactics of the successful London bid after losing out in the fight to host the 2012 Olympics.

Delanoe congratulated London but said "I am not quite sure that we took part with the same tools and spirit.

"On Tuesday, as I was going back to my hotel room to go to bed, I saw people coming out from successive meetings with Tony Blair and Sebastian Coe.

"I had not understood that that was the way we should have proceeded."

He added "I thought that we just needed to provide the best possible bid with the best possible Olympic spirit. And I think this is what most of the IOC members thought about Paris."

But Delanoe vowed that the city would recover from the "immense disappointment" of losing out to London.

"All that has been beautiful, great, strong, collectively generous during our candidacy must not be lost," he said.

"I will use all my energy so that we bounce back, so that we can achieve something great and positive from this."


They cant just say congratulations  they have to accuse us of cheating .

It doesn't look like they accused London of "cheating" rather they admit that they didn't realize that this was a political process.

Rather naive I grant you.

Chirac's just annoyed because he wasnt invited to Seb and Tony's hotel party wink

You'd think after losing the 2004 and 2008 bids they would have done some research and found out how to win friends and influence people.

Rather than insult their food behind their back.

:smile: :roll:

Just have to invite Chirac over for some good old British food.... )