Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said Monday that London’s winning bid for the 2012 Games breached the rules. Delanoe, president of the Paris 2012 bid, said London had not respected the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stating that meetings between bid officials and IOC members should be only informal.
He told reporters, “the IOC knows that (Prime Minister) Tony Blair had written to IOC members to offer to meet them”. Delanoe said Blair had then met IOC members in his hotel suite in Singapore before Wednesday’s vote. “Everybody was aware of it and could see it. That’s against the rules. I saw people coming out of Blair’s suite”.
Delanoe also suggested Monday that London had also breached the IOC rules by making comments on a rival bid, reports Reuters.
“It is stated that a bid should not make comments on another one. Out of the five bidding cities, which one did not respect that?”
According to Reuters he was apparently referring to comments before the vote by a member of London’s team who said the Stade de France in Paris was not built specifically for athletes.
Delanoe said he didn’t want to make a big fuss but “there’s no reason why I should remain silent”.
Delanoe denied having accused London of bribery. “All I said was that if Paris had used bribery to win the vote, we would have been reproached for it”.
Speaking at his first Paris council meeting Monday since the vote in Singapore Delanoe said, “I don’t say they flirted (with the yellow line), they crossed right over. Victory was decided on something other than Olympism”.
Meanwhile a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that London’s winning bid was “fair”.
“We have no comment other than to point to what Mr. Rogge said, that it was a fair bid”.
