Paris up the ante in bid publicity stakes

Paris, which has run a much quieter campaign than London in terms of grabbing headlines, pulled off the most spectacular public relations stunt of the 2012 race on the eve of today's evaluation commission report.

Close to a million people turned out on the Champs Elysees when the famous tree-lined avenue was transformed into an arena to demonstrate Olympic sports, featuring a huge running track, swimming pool and tennis courts.

Paris 2012 chiefs have not sought to make international headlines after they were accused of being arrogant following their failed bid for the 2008 Games, but yesterday they decided to go for what one official described as "the one big gig" for the world.

Bid organisers wanted the event to highlight figures in today's International Olympic Committee report, which show higher public support for staging the Games from Parisians (85 per cent) than from Londoners (68 per cent).