olympic gloom
July 12, 2005
I have just got back from 10 days in Dublin to find France buried in gloom and self-doubt. Actually when you think about it, France at the moment is permanently buried in gloom and self-doubt. So let us say that it has plumbed new depths in its crisis of chronic angst. The reason of course is the loss of the Olympics. Losing it is one thing, losing it to London is quite another. For many here the defeat epitomises France's position as permanent runner-up in the battle for influence with "Les Anglo-Saxons." Personally, without wishing to boast, I saw it coming. Several friends can attest to my predictions of this outcome. My reasoning was -- and is -- that the "music" was all wrong. Any city worth its salt can mount a professional PR campaign, with the top film dirctor, shots of kiddies etc etc. What will set two bids apart is mood. And the French mood was all wrong. From the strikes during the visit by the Olympic committee in February to the "no" in the EU referendum and Chirac's cack-handed remarks about English cooking, the "feel" was of a country that is suspicious of outsiders and outdated. Now the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe has added to the humiliation by publicly accusing London of "cheating." Apparently he thinks Tony Blair should not have invited IOC delegates to be lobbied in his room in Singapore -- even though Jacques Chirac was glad-handing with plenty of determination in the hotel lobby below. It is a rare faux-pas by Delanoe -- vehemently attacked by his left-wing supporters in Liberation newspaper today -- and only goes to show how rattled the whole country is by the Olympic debacle.
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Comments
Those of us over here who were rooting for Paris 2012 (or Moscow, or anywhere) share the chagrin of the French at the result. 30% of the British didn't want the circus to come to London, you know.
Posted by: Tony at July 22, 2005 07:04 PM
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