Claude Bebear, head of part of the Group of Public Interests (GPI) behind Paris’ bid to host the 2008 Games says “we aim to make the Paris Olympics the best in history”.
Bebear called on members of the international business community to use their influence to raise the bid’s profile and persuade the IOC, when it votes in July next year, to pick Paris to host the Games.
He said “we need the influence of those who have contacts with the international community and with the 130 members of the IOC who are going to vote next July. We are not allowed to make contact with the voting panel ourselves. When they announced the shortlist of the five cities in August, they said our case was the best, but we know we still have a lot of work to do”.
Bebear said the Olympics, integrating such famous sites as the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame Cathedral, would mark the last chance for a historic city to host the Olympics. “After 2012, the northern area of the city, where we intend to build the Olympic Village, will be too built up. We already see that in London, Rome and Berlin and other historic cities. After 2008 it will be too late”.
He said the size and scale of Paris and a good transport network meant most of the events could take place within a 20-minute radius of the Olympic Village, while the sailing would be hosted in La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.
“We will make Paris a city for athletes, a city for the public who come to watch and a city for the rest of the world, while respecting the needs of Parisians”, he said.
At a projected cost of more than 20 billion French francs ($2.70 billion), the 2008 Games would bring a much needed boost to the economy, not just in Paris but the whole of its surrounding region of Ile-de-France. “Most importantly it will boost the image of France in the eyes of the world, and it will prove that Paris taxi drivers aren’t all the bad” said Bebear.
