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How UK won Olympic bid in the final straight
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-12 06:07

Each city was allowed a delegation of 100 in Singapore. There was nothing in the rules that said they had to be adults. London took 30 children from different ethnic groups in the East End. They made a stark contrast to the French team "all white men in grey suits", according to one bid insider.

Coe's made a speech to the IOC, saying "Choose London today and you send a clear message to the youth of the world; more than ever, the Olympic Games are for you."

Notably, Coe was the only bid leader to address his speech not only to Jacques Rogge, the Belgian president of the IOC, but also to "Mr Life President" Samaranch.

The lobbying worked, and the fight ended with a straight battle between London and Paris. Tensions were tight. The London team took a break after the secret ballot.

"When we came back into the main room, we thought we'd lost," said Livingstone later. "All the photographers were over by the French party. We thought they knew something we didn't."

But when Rogge tore open the envelope, handed to him on an over-inflated pillow, it was London that had triumphed. It had beaten Paris by 54 votes to 50.

All the same, it was tight and Chirac's remarks about British cuisine "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food" had helped by alienating the two Finnish members of the IOC, Jari Kurri and Peter Tallberg.

Olympic etiquette coupled with IOC rules mean that delegates are often reluctant to say who they voted for, but there is some evidence that the Blairs' late intervention had also been crucial to the result.

Patrick Hickey, Ireland's IOC member, told a Singaporean journalist: "This is down to Tony Blair. If he hadn't come here, I'd say that six to eight votes could have been lost and London would not be sitting here today, winners."

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