Despair consumes fired-up French

PARIS - The champagne was chilled, the band was ready to strike up a happy tune and the fireworks were ready to pop to celebrate Paris' consecration as the host of the 2012 summer games.

Thousands gathered outside the white baroque Paris Town Hall in tense expectation, watching on giant screens as the envelope was handed to IOC president Jacques Rogge.

First there was silence and then a sharp intake of breath as he mentioned the word: London.

This yielded to a mass gasp and shouts of Oh la la! and Non! and the sporadic Merde! After the climactic moment, a mood of despair set in as everyone realised France had failed in its third bid in 20 years to host the games. Then everyone just shuffled quietly away and joined the national mood of disappointment at being pipped at the post by Paris' traditional rival.

"Now, we have to know how to lose in dignity. We have to accept it," said France's Olympic judo legend David Douillet.

France's highest-paid sportsman, basketball star Tony Parker, who was in Singapore as part of the Paris delegation, was rocked by the shock victory for London.

"I don't understand. It's now three times, 1992, 2008 and 2012, that they've turned down Paris for the Olympic Games," said Parker.

France's Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour, a former Olympian, called it a "great disappointment".

"We gave the best we could, we spoke from our gut, with our heart but it seems it didn't convince the IOC," he said.

Questions are now likely to be asked as to what went wrong.

Paris had been the frontrunner. It had been praised for its great location, beauty and the quality of its infrastructure, including a top-class public transport system and a gleaming stadium. But few forget that during the March visit to Paris by the IOC evaluation commission, the capital was in traffic chaos because of a strike by transport workers.

One scenario being mulled was that Paris' bid was rather stuffy in comparison to that of its arch-rival London. While London's video presentation was chirpy and upbeat focusing on sport and diversity, Paris played more predictably on its romantic image.

Also under the microscope is the value of President Jacques Chirac's support. Prime Minister Tony Blair's last-minute lobbying may have won over two or three key votes. In contrast, Chirac, who is 20 years older than Blair, and seen as a shrinking figure on the world stage, probably failed to have any such charisma.

"Tony Blair acted brilliantly. He has a dynamism which makes him win all his bets, win all the gambles he takes and win all the challenges he sets himself," said former Olympian Pierre Durand.

"They have the luck to have a Prime Minister who is young, emblematic, charismatic, deliberately looking to the future and at odds with 'Old Europe'. You can feel it on every level."

The decision to grant the Games to London is a further blow to Chirac whose approval rating fell to a record 28 per cent last month, down 12 points from the previous month after being trashed on the EU referendum.