Jean-Claude Killy sickened

Sickened by what, you ask? Sickened by this. The mayor of Paris, one Bertrand Delanoe, who just days ago said, "We are all Londoners now," has accused Tony Blair of personally crossing the "yellow line with respect to the IOC rules."

Killy, a World Cup, world and Olympic ski champion, said, "Paris shouldn't look for pitiful excuses."

Killy made a veiled suggestion that remarks in 2003 by President Jacques Chirac, who criticized eastern European nations over their support of the United States in its war in Iraq, cost Paris the votes of members from those countries.

"Imagine trying to obtain today the votes of the east. It's really not easy," he said in an implicit reference to Chirac's criticism of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic for supporting Washington in 2003 ahead of the invasion of Iraq.

"Chirac said it was "not very responsible" or "well bred" of them to do so, adding that "I think they missed a good chance to shut up."

Killy also said that the accusations from Delanoe "sickened" him and that France has no "international sports presence."

More comments from the Paris mayor here.

"I’m not saying they came close to crossing the line — they crossed the line completely.

The victory was won by means other than Olympic ones. We made a choice, notably, to report corruption. This choice I take upon myself."

Members of the Paris City Council called his remarks, "shocking, tactless and almost indecent."

Delanoe denied having accused London of bribery.

"All I said was that if Paris had used bribery to win the vote, we would have been reproached for it."

Ah, yes. Nuance!