Paris has Olympic hopes: Ambassador

Paris has Olympic hopes: Ambassador

JAKARTA (JP): French ambassador to Indonesia Gerard Cros said
on Monday that Paris stands a fair chance of winning the bid to
host the 2008 Olympics because of the city's infrastructure
advantages.

"Paris has most of the sporting venues and we only need to
construct small additional venues," Cros said during a dinner at
his residence.

"Another advantage is that all venues are in or around the
city of Paris. Only sailing would be held in La Rochelle, some
300 kilometers southwest of Paris," he said.

Paris's bid organizing committee has proposed construction of
several venues in or around Paris' most famous places such as the
Eiffel tower and Les Invalides.

Paris is competing against heavy favorite Beijing, Toronto,
Osaka and Istanbul to host the 2008 quadrennial event. Paris has
previously hosted the 1900 and 1924 Olympics.

Another French cities of Chamonix, Grenoble and Albertville
have hosted the Winter Games in 1924, 1968 and 1992 respectively.

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) will announce the
2008 host city during its meeting on July 13 in Moscow.

"The date is very important because it is only one day prior
to our national day. Lately, we have had a tradition of
celebrating something special around our national day," Cros
said.

"We celebrated our victory in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000
European Cup around our national day. So, we expect that we can
also have something to celebrate this year," he said.

Cros emphasized that France has had a special connection with
the modern Olympic movement since its establishment.

"We have a special connection to the Olympic movement since it
was Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin who revived the Olympic
spirit into its modern form.

"I believe the baron did not expect that his efforts would
ever reach the current level (of importance)," Cros said.

Cros, however, admitted that Paris also has obstacles in
winning the bid.

"Athens will host the 2004 Olympics and if it is in Paris (in
2008), people will think that it is not fair to have the Olympics
in Europe twice," he said.

"Furthermore, Beijing lost to Sydney for the 2000 Olympics and
I believe that there will be some moral obligation to have
Beijing as the next host. I'm sure most Asian countries will back
Beijing's bid," he added. (nvn)