Paris mayor says 'no' Oly re-bid

PARIS — The mayor of Paris, still bitter about his city's loss to London to host the 2012 Olympics, on Tuesday ruled out a bid for the 2016 Games.

Paris "will not be a candidate . . . and if I can support a South American or an African bid, I will do it gladly," Mayor Bertrand Delanoe told radio network Europe 1.

The Olympics have never been held in Africa or South America. With the 2012 games in London, it's unlikely the 2016 games will be held in Europe.

The French capital's 54-50 defeat to London in the final round of last Wednesday's International Olympic Committee vote in Singapore remains a subject of heated debate in France.

Paris had been considered the favorite, but London picked up crucial support in a late lobbying push by Prime Minister Tony Blair and powerful appeals by bid leader Sebastian Coe.

Delanoe repeated his claim that London failed to play by the IOC's bidding rules. Among other things, he has cited Blair's meetings with IOC members in his hotel room in Singapore.

"I said yesterday that the rules . . . were not respected by London," Delanoe said. "I continue to maintain that. And I note that the athletes are saying the same thing."

But IOC president Jacques Rogge said Saturday that Blair had done nothing wrong and that none of the five bid cities had broken the rules.

Two former French Olympic gold medalists who worked on the Paris bid supported Delanoe on Tuesday. Double Olympic judo champion David Douillet said the British had "flirted" with the rules.

"The IOC are 'see no evil, hear no evil,' the three little monkeys," Douillet said.

Runner Marie-Jose Perec, winner of three Olympic golds, said in an interview with France Soir newspaper that London had broken the rules by criticizing the Stade de France stadium.

Two Australian consultants for the London bid criticized the French stadium's sightlines at a news conference in Singapore a few days before the vote. Paris did not lodge a protest, and the IOC took no action.