Not who do you want, head not heart for this poll please - and be honest...

I think Paris will get it due to the murmurings about the I.O.C. favouring Paris and their 3rd bid. But taking this out of the equation then it would definately be London.

I hope London does get the 2012 olympics though, and think there is every possibility London can.

I want London to win and think its bid is better than Paris'. i think we have as much chance as them of winning...

Paris as favourite is good way as it means we are all prepared for possibly losing although hopefully we won't have to find out what it is like! :)

Hope you lot that think London will win have a few quid on them, William Hill have London at 7/2, compared to 1/6 for Paris.

http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/buildcoupon.asp?couponchoice=OT509475

Unless the bookies are seriously wrong (they don't tend to be this far out - this is similar odds to the General Election), there are some over optimistic people around.

I honestly think London has the better bid but it's normally down to politics and I think Paris will get it after a very close race unfortunately.

I honestly think London has the better bid but it's normally down to politics and I think Paris will get it after a very close race unfortunately.

yup.

The IOC will go with the easy option in the end, rather than the BETTER option

I'm convinced London is going to win :banana:

These comments about London's bid being better than the Paris bid sound very arrogant from an outsiders point of view, and remind me of when England was bidding for the 2006 World Cup when we were repeatedly told it was the best bid, only to come a very distant 3rd to Germany and S Africa.

These comments about London's bid being better than the Paris bid sound very arrogant from an outsiders point of view, and remind me of when England was bidding for the 2006 World Cup when we were repeatedly told it was the best bid, only to come a very distant 3rd to Germany and S Africa.
I've no doubt the supporters of every bidding city think their bid is the best, this isn't arrogant, this is a personal opinnion, no one is saying "London will definately win and Paris has no chance". If one person does think this, then that doesn't make all other supporters the same as this one person.

Also, i'm an outsider who supports London. :)

i deffinatly think london has the best bid....obviously iwould say that...but it seems to be the most ambitious and yet deliverable. Paris seems quite boring in comparison..it wont transform much of the city and alot of the venues are already built...they will look tired and old by 2012.

But i think paris will win

I think Paris will get it due to the murmurings about the I.O.C. favouring Paris and their 3rd bid. But taking this out of the equation then it would definately be London.

I hope London does get the 2012 olympics though, and think there is every possibility London can.

I'd say hyping up the fact that this is the 3rd UK bid in recent years after the two failed manchester atempts could help London a bit. In effect we've actually taken more notice of those failures than the French have shifting our bid to London and offering improved facilities/legacy where as I'd guess the current Paris bid isnt massively different from the two failiures.

4th bid, Birmingham bid for 1992, Manc 96 and 2000.

Depends....If politics dont come into it....London will win.

If they do, Paris will win.


I think Politics will come into it.

I think we have a damn good chance of winning this. It's a fantastic bid and there is tremendous political support. I can't remember a situation where the British have been so positive about anything ever before. It's really quite wierd for a Thature child such as myself. If the IOC members recognise this I think we'll win.

Bob - you from London?

I don't recognise the 'British being positive' about this bid from where I sit in Manchester - I honestly don't know anyone who wouldn't prefer Paris to get it that London - they are equally hard to get to, and if anyone was to want to attend them, the concensus is we'd enjoy Paris more than London.

Paris, even though London deserves it more.

Bob - you from London?

I don't recognise the 'British being positive' about this bid from where I sit in Manchester - I honestly don't know anyone who wouldn't prefer Paris to get it that London - they are equally hard to get to, and if anyone was to want to attend them, the concensus is we'd enjoy Paris more than London.yep! Perhaps I should have said Londoners being positive about anything. I find there is a burgeoning sense of civic pride which has focused itself on the Olympic bid. There are loads of back the bid flags, posters, stations decked out in the colours, the local tv has "backing the bid" in the background even the Evening standard, horrible paper full of hate that it is is "backing the bid" and doing so strongly.

Then there are all the individuals strongly behind the bid. Lord Coe is superb, as is Ken. Even Blair with all his faults is doing a damn good job. Then there is an almost endless list of sports stars. I do not recall this ever happening before.

Is the lack of support in Manchester due to the poor support it got from the government? I can totally understand that. Personally I think that is more to do with a Conservative government that wouldn't invest in any sort of infrastructure / public service compared to a Labour one that does. It realy highlights the focus on individuals (right wing) vs community (left wing).

I could also see why those in Manchester would want a holiday in Paris rather than London. I'd rather go to Paris than Manchester. I don't see what that's got to do with the Olympics.

Bob - both London and Paris feel equally remote.

No one I've spoken to feels they would go to London to watch the Olympics any more than Paris, (I'm off to Turin in Feb for the winter Olympics - but wouldn't consider going to the summer Olympics in London).

and probably more importantly, I think there is much less patriatism in this part of the world than down south - I really don't think the 'British Olympics' means that much to an area that I tend to think thinks of itself much less British than other parts of the country.

...but then it's London 2012 isn't it not Britain 2012. The Londoners aren't patriotic either. They are increasingly proud of, and confident in London though. And you're off to Turin not Italy.

It realy highlights the focus on individuals (right wing) vs community (left wing).


:bash:

No one I've spoken to feels they would go to London to watch the Olympics any more than Paris, (I'm off to Turin in Feb for the winter Olympics - but wouldn't consider going to the summer Olympics in London).

Maybe true, but i've got friends in the Midlands and in Yorkshire at uni who said they would go to a London Olympics but probably wouldnt bother going to a Parisian Olympics. I feel a London olympics has the best chance of feeling like a british olympics than if it was held in any other british city.

For every 1 person from this country who would rather go abroad to watch the Olympics (because they are looking at the holiday aspect, the British don't go on holiday to London , they go to sunny Greece, Spain, France, Australia etc, etc), there are 50 people from all over the world who would rather go to London to see the Olympics rather than visit their own capital (which is as familiar and unexotic to them as London is to the British).

There would also be a similar high ratio of British sports fans who would go to London to watch the Olympics, compared to the uninterested who wouldnt.

Take Wimbledon as an example, sells out all the time, even during bad weather, full of British and foreign people, yet 99% of British people don't go or will never get to go, and probably a high ratio will say "i would rather go to watch the tennis abroad rather than go to London".

London has 3million supporters for this bid, these are only the ones who have logged on, phoned in, emailed or texted their support. More than 6 out of 10 U.K. people support the bid and more than 7 out of 10 Londoners support the bid.