Paris launches worldwide 2012 Olympic bid

Paris 2012 hosted a worldwide Olympic bid news conference through all France's embassies in the world on Wednesday (1030 GMT) to report its preparation of the bidding.

"We were beaten by Beijing in the bid of 2008 Olympics. Now it's time for France. We hope Beijing could hand over the Olympic flag to Paris," said here Philippe Guelluy, French ambassador to China.

The Paris 2012 submitted Monday its Candidature File to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to exclaim three trump cards in the contest to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

First, the Bid has received unparalleled public support, with 92 percent of the French public believing that the Games will benefit the nation according to a TNS Sofres opinion poll.

Second is Paris existing Olympic assets, as the city already possesses 100 percent of the accommodations and 95 percent of the public transport and Olympic Lanes necessary to the service of the Games in 2012.

The third one is that Paris is prepared to construct several new venues, like the Aquatics Center, Velodrome, Superdome and the Shooting Center, which are estimated at 4.1 billion Euro.

"This is an Olympic Bid that comes from the heart of the French Nation, as we call it L'Amour des Jeux," said Bertrand Delance, Mayor of Paris, at the worldwide simultaneous news conference in Paris.

Other candidate cities include London, New York, Madrid and Moscow.

Source: Xinhua