Blair in final Olympic push
London has a “very strong chance” of winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, Tony Blair has said.
The prime minister was speaking in Singapore alongside London 2012 bid chairman Lord Coe ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) decision tomorrow.
David Beckham, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Steve Redgrave and Daley Thompson joined Mr Blair to promote the London bid yesterday. The Princess Royal, Jonathan Edwards, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Denise Lewis, David Hemery and Tanni Grey-Thompson were also present to lend their support.
“I think what you do is, you go all out to try to win it and do your very best and then it is in the hands of the IOC,” the prime minister said.
Mr Blair said he was convinced London had a “very strong chance” of winning as the capital was “the perfect stage for the greatest show on earth”.
England captain Beckham said: “We are backing the bid because we believe in it. Obviously it’s going to generate a lot of things for our country. I believe this is the only place it should be.”
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, US senator Hillary Clinton and former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali have also flown in to promote New York’s bid.
And French president Jacques Chirac arrives in Singapore today to make Paris’ case as tensions between him and Mr Blair increase even further ahead of tomorrow’s G8 summit.
The president stoked fresh political controversy yesterday by reportedly joking to German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Britain’s main contribution to European agriculture was “mad cow”.
French newspaper Liberation quotes him as telling diplomats: “We can’t trust people who have such bad food. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.”
The bookies put London just behind favourite Paris in the bid to hold the 2012 Olympics, followed by Madrid, New York and Moscow.
Pundits predict the final decision could go down to the wire with one vote from among the 100 members determining the winner.
The IOC electoral college is made up of 40 representatives from Europe, 26 from Asia, 12 from Latin America and the Caribbean, three from North American and 19 from Africa.
