French told to remove Olympic banners

The main rival to London's bid for the 2012 Olympics has been dealt an embarrassing blow to its attempts to host the Games.

Paris, regarded as the front-runner, has been told it has jumped the gun in decking its streets and landmarks with flags proclaiming its status as one of five "candidate cities".

This is because the Olympic torch is due to pass along these routes tomorrow in advance of this year's Games in Athens - and strict rules ban any candidate city from hijacking the torch relay to advance its own bid.

French officials have received a letter from the International Olympic Committee ordering them to remove the flags.

Only last week the Evening Standard highlighted how the French capital had pressed ahead of its rivals - London, Madrid, New York and Moscow - by draping " Paris 2012" banners on the Champs Elys饳 and around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.

To the casual observer it was as if Paris had already won the right to stage the Olympics, even though the winning city will not be announced until July next year.

One Olympic source said: "They have received a letter reminding them that the bid information must come down for the torch, because it's all about Athens. Pretty much all of the flags will have to come down.

"The cities are not allowed to promote their bids internationally until November. That is after the 'candidate file' goes in. But the torch relay is an international event with international coverage." The source said any breach of the rules could count against Paris. "I don't think they do a tally and say 'so many strikes and you're out'. But I think the IOC want people to play by the rules."

An IOC spokesman confirmed that letters had been sent to all five candidate cities reminding them of the rules surrounding the Olympic torch. He said they could only promote their bids nationally and not during international events such as the torch relay. The

Olympic torch will come to London after its journey through Paris and will tour the city on Saturday, going from centre court at Wimbledon to The Mall.

London has begun to erect flags to boost support for the 2012 Games but bid organisers have kept them away from the official torch route. They went up at the ExCel exhibition centre in Docklands last week. The venue has been earmarked to host boxing, judo, weightlifting, wrestling and tae kwon do if London wins the 2012 Games.

More flags are expected to go up across the capital after the Olympic torch relay, which culminates on Saturday with a pop concert in the Mall, featuring Rod Stewart and Ozzy Osbourne.

London 2012 bid chairman Lord Coe said he wanted to see the city covered in Olympic banners by the time the IOC officials arrive next spring to assess its chances.