"With apologies to Sydney, but we aim to make the Paris Olympics the best in history. We know it won't be easy," bid organiser Claude Bebear told some 200 business leaders, ambassadors and journalists on Wednesday.
He said he was confident Paris could upstage this year's Games in Australia, which International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Juan Antonio Samaranch called "the best Olympic Games ever".
Bebear called on members of the international business community to use their influence to raise the bid's profile and persuade the IOC, when it votes in July next year, to pick Paris as host of the 29th Olympics.
Paris held the Olympics in 1900 and 1924 and ran an unsuccessful bid for the 1992 Summer Games, which went to Barcelona.
It is competing against Beijing, Osaka, Toronto and Istanbul for the 2008 Games.
"We need the influence of those who have contacts with the international community and with the 130 members of the IOC who are going to vote next July. We are not allowed to make contact with the voting panel ourselves," he said.
Bebear, who heads part of the Group of Public Interests (GPI), which is behind the French bid, said the IOC had already described Paris's bid as "excellent".
"When they announced the shortlist of the five cities in August, they said our case was the best, but we know we still have a lot of work to do."
He said the GPI was using the four other short-listed venues as benchmarks on which to base Paris's progress.
Although he declined to comment on the other cities' prospects, Bebear said he was not worried by the commonly-held belief that the continent hosting the Olympics must be alternated every four years.
"That argument has no real base. We aim to show that Paris will be best for the athletes and the public, regardless of the fact that Athens will host the 2004 Olympics," he said.
Backers of the French bid aim to capitalise on the cultural and historical appeal of Paris by staging certain events, including the marathon, against the backdrop of the city's famous monuments.
The occasion, integrating such famous sites as the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame cathedral, would mark the last chance for a historic city to host the Olympics, Bebeart said.
"After 2012, the northern area of the city, where we intend to build the Olympic Village will be too built up. We already see that in London, Rome and Berlin and other historic cities. After 2008 it will be too late."
He said the size and scale of Paris and a good transport network meant most of the events could take place within a 20-minute radius of the Olympic Village, while the sailing would be hosted in La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.
"Paris is compact and has many facilities. Athletes and the public will not have to travel far for the events or training, which they had to do in Sydney.
He said past experience in organising large sports events, including the 1998 soccer World Cup, extremely favourable media coverage and optimum weather conditions in July and August would also help promote the Paris bid.
"We will make Paris a city for athletes, a city for the public who come to watch and a city for the rest of the world, while respecting the needs of Parisians," Bebear said.
The 2008 Olympics, at a projected cost of more than 20 billion French francs ($2.70 billion), would bring a much needed boost to the economy, not just in Paris but the whole of its surrounding region of Ile-de-France, he added.
"Most importantly it will boost the image of France in the eyes of the world, and it will prove that Paris taxi drivers aren't all that bad." ($1=7.399 French Franc).
Reuters
