Chirac, Blair face off in battle for Olympics
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 21:06

French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair went head-to-head in Singapore in final campaigning for the 2012 Olympic Games, in a battle insiders said had come down to Paris or London.

French president Jacques Chirac talks to the doorman at the Raffle hotel in Singapore. Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair went head-to-head in Singapore in final campaigning for the 2012 Olympic Games. [AFP]

Chirac jetted into Singapore on Tuesday afternoon for a lightning round of lobbying ahead of Wednesday's International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote to decide if Paris, London, New York, Moscow or Madrid will host the Games.

He joined Blair, his great European rival, who had been waging a high-profile, relentless and apparently warmly received charm offensive since arriving in the Southeast Asian city-state on Sunday.

The final efforts from the two leaders took on added importance on Tuesday, with IOC sources telling AFP the contest to host the Games had been narrowed down to Paris and London.

"Nearly all the members have already made up their mind and it has come down to Paris and London," one senior IOC member said.

However all five cities maintained frantic campaign efforts, wheeling out a galaxy of present and former sporting champions, as well as the political leaders.

The lobby of the main hotel for delegates at the Raffles City Convention Centre, the venue for the vote, was awash with representatives of the five cities as they tried to make last-ditch pleas to IOC delegates.

"I didn't mean to come down here. It's bedlam," one Asian IOC delegate who wanted to avoid the chaos told AFP in the lobby before retreating to his hotel room.

New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton, who flew to Singapore on a private plane before dawn on Tuesday, was one big name at the hotel lobby trying to push the case for the 'Big Apple'.

But her efforts to meet IOC members were hampered as she was surround by photographers and camera crews as well as her personal bodyguards.

"It's all a bit of a circus," admitted one bid official.

The match-up between Blair and Chirac, set amid a backdrop of barely disguised personal animosities and traditional British-French rivalries, was one of the most intriguing aspects of the final few hours of campaigning.

The rivalries flared on Monday when consultants to the London Olympic bid in Singapore criticised Paris' Stade de France, a centrepiece of the French capital's campaign, in apparent breach of the IOC rules.

The Paris delegation reacted with some barbs of its own, with Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe quick to take the moral high ground.

"I think that to deserve victory you have to respect the Olympic spirit and demonstrate fair play," Delanoe said when asked about the remarks.

Chirac himself added to the tensions with comments published in the French newspaper, Liberation, on Monday ridiculing British cooking.

"The only thing they have done for European agriculture is 'mad cow (disease)'," he reportedly said during a weekend meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"You can't trust people who have such lousy cooking," Chirac added, labelling British cooking the worst in Europe apart from that of Finland.

British reporters tried to fuel the controversy when Chirac landed in Singapore, calling out to him at the airport to ask if he liked roast beef, a traditional food. But the French leader didn't bite.

"I came here to defend one candidate. May the best team win," Chirac said in his only comments to the press before heading to town for a meeting with IOC President Jacques Rogge.

Chirac's main chance to meet with IOC delegates came at a cocktail reception for the opening ceremony of the 117th IOC session at Singapore's Esplanade arts centre on Tuesday evening.

After helping Paris' final presentation on Wednesday, Chirac will fly out before the announcement for Scotland for the G8 summit in Gleneagles starting on Thursday.

Blair was due to fly out of Singapore on Tuesday evening to prepare for his hosting of the summit.

The five cities begin making their video presentations to IOC delegates at 9:00 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday, after which the one-to-one lobbying ends.

Ninety-nine of the 115 eligible IOC delegates are expected to vote in the first round, with those from the candidate cities and Rogge excluded.

If a city does not secure a majority, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated.

The eliminated city's IOC delegates are then allowed to vote in the next round and the process is repeated until a city secures a simple majority.

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