London hit as Samaranch goes for Paris

Paris received a boost for its 2012 Olympic bid today when former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch predicted that the French capital would beat London in July's vote.

Samaranch, whose son is helping to drive Madrid's bid, said: "Paris will win. Maybe because they bid twice in the last few years. They lost to Barcelona [for the 1992 Games] and to Beijing [2008]."

London's 2012 leader Seb Coe should not be too worried by the prediction, given that it is the general view of International Olympic Committee observers that Paris are favourites and there is much to play for in the campaigning before the vote on 6 July. But it is significant that the octogenarian has made his views public.

Samaranch, who led the IOC for 21 years until 2001, does not have anywhere near the same power and influence he enjoyed in his heyday.

But he is a master politician who in the past rarely revealed his views on bidding races. In the past he has sometimes made surprise comments, which were aimed at sparking a reaction, and he sometimes "flies kites" to see a reaction to new ideas.