Hhmmm. To understand why France is not understood. We might suggest M. Lamour begin with what the Olympic Committee does understand and work his way back through France's obtuseness.

Let's start here, a bid is a competitive proposal, not a formality to a forgone conclusion. Tony Blair worked hard promoting London's bid to the Olympic Committee while Jack dominated the news with jokes about English cuisine.

The Olympic games are both a sports and tourist enterprise, with the financial success of the games dependent on the latter. So the host city must successfully attract tourists.

Tourists expect some small comforts like dependable transportation, not spending large portions of the day working around services on strike, and not having the rental car torched. They also are fussy about having their brand new holiday shoes caked in dogshit. They like taking in the sights without gagging on a city's miasmic stench.

Lastly, tourists prefer a friendly welcoming host. They like wait staff that is professional, courteous, prompt, and doesn't smell like the fish stalls of Araby.

There. That should give M. le Minister a few clues about France's troubled bids.

DGB

Typical french cheesy whine.

"We first need to understand why we are not understood by the members of the International Olympic Committee"

Has he considered the possibility that there was no misunderstanding, at least on the part of the IOC? It couldn't be that after 4 tries, he still doesn't understand what the IOC is looking for in a host city (besides bribes and kickbacks)? Has he spent all these years confused about what the IOC is missing and how they might be made to better understand him? Does he still think *they* must be stupid?