Parisian bid draws on savoir-faire
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PARIS (AP) -- Bidding to host the 2012 Olympic Games, Paris said Friday that it's confident its modern stadiums and savoir-faire from hosting other major sporting events will make it a front-runner.
The race for the 2012 Games is already shaping up as a fierce contest between several heavyweight candidates, with France, London, New York and Madrid the favored of the nine hopefuls. Cities revealed details of their bids on Friday.
Having missed out on the 2008 Games, Paris is determined not to fall by the wayside again and is confident that experience gained from successfully hosting the 1998 World Cup and 2003 World Athletics finals will persuade the organizers that the French capital is a worthy choice.
"We have the know-how of how to organize things on a large scale," France's sports minister Jean-Francois Lamour, a former Olympic fencing champion, told reporters on the Eiffel Tower's first floor.
"We know how to do it, and what's more, we want to keep on doing it," Lamour added.
"The government will support the bid to the highest level, right up to President (Jacques) Chirac. It is total support, at every level, whether financial, or in terms of security."
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe expressed how "passionate" Paris is about hosting the Games.
"We've tried to define what the IOC wants for 2012," he said. "If we became hosts, we'd want to leave a legacy behind so that the Paris Olympics would never forgotten."
Philippe Baudillon, who heads the bid committee, said Paris has learned the lessons of its 2008 bid failure.
Paris, then also brimming with confidence, suffered a crushing defeat in its push for the 2008 Games -- picking up fewer first round votes than Istanbul, Turkey. The Chinese city of Beijing won the right to host the world's biggest sports festival.
"We've inherited a lot from the 2008 dossier and improved upon it. As a reference point it was tremendous," Baudillon said. "But we've decided to reduce the amount of sporting venues from 37 to 30. This will save time and reduce building costs.
"Of the 30 sites we need, 50 percent are already built, and of the 15 we need to build, only four of those would remain after the Games finish. We don't want to create a lot of white elephants," he said.
The nine applicant cities, including Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro, submitted preliminary documents to the International Olympic Committee by Thursday's midnight deadline.
Bidders sent replies to a detailed IOC questionnaire with 25 questions covering key issues such as venues, financing, security, transportation, political support and accommodation.
An IOC panel will now determine which cities meet the criteria and, in May, the IOC executive board will rule on whether to accept all nine as official bid cities or trim the number down. The host city will be announced in July 2005 in Singapore.
Meanwhile, inside the Paris dossier: a gleaming site map highlighting where events will take place.
Of the 30 sites to be used, eight are in the north and 10 in the west of the city. Sandwiched between the two sites will be the Olympic Village -- a mere 10 minute journey to and from either site.
"This means athletes will not be tired, as there will be little traveling around. Everything is within easy reach," Lamour added.
To the north of Paris, an 18-minute car ride from Charles de Gaulle airport, stands the imperious Stade de France -- the jewel in the capital's crown.
Zinedine Zidane became a legend there by scoring twice in France's 1998 World Cup final win over Brazil.
On the western edge sits Roland Garros, home of the French Open, Longchamp race course and the Parc des Princes soccer stadium.
In addition to the Paris sites, the dossier highlighted five provincial venues.
Lens, Lyon, Marseille and Nantes would host soccer matches, and La Rochelle sailing events.
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