Paris denies embassy's efforts for bidding 2012 Olympics

Paris 2012 moved quickly Thursday to deny the critics from their rivals of taking the advantage of embassies to promote their bid of 2012 Olympics.

The controversial remarks were made by a Norwegian actress at the French Embassy in Oslo, one of 15 French embassies used to promote the Paris 2012 bid to a worldwide audience.

It was only this Thursday that the comments were made public in the Spanish newspaper El Pais and that Madrid, one of the five cities vying for the 2012 Games, had officially complained to the IOC's ethic commission.

Under the strict rules laid down by the ethics commission none of the five bid cities, Paris, London, Madrid, Moscow and New Yorkare allowed to criticise each other.

Paris bid chief Philippe Baudillon stressed Thursday that the comments did not represent the views of Paris. IOC sources confirmed that Madrid's written complaint had arrived with the ethics commission but no action is expected to be taken against Paris.

The winner of the 2012 bid battle will be announced at the IOC session in Singapore next July.

Source: Xinhua