Where's the va va voom?

The French also revealed spectacular sporting shows like beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower. The city's most famous monument is also the venue for the starts of the marathon and cycling time trial, while the triathlon will begin nearby with a swim down the River Seine.

But it is significant that the French have dropped all reference to the slogan "The Games of all the Colours" which was first launched at the Hotel de Ville in May last year.

France's reputation as a multi-cultural society has taken a hit in the last year with the controversy over Muslim girls being banned from wearing headscarves in state schools.

This is an area that London 2012 are already exploiting. Every time Mayor Ken Livingstone talks about the bid, he mentions the hundreds of languages that are spoken here and how the "world's communities are already in the capital".

But in an interview with Standard Sport today, Paris's Bid leader Philippe Baudillon denied that the slogan had been dropped because of the controversy.

He said: "That slogan was the slogan to get the bid going. Now we have another one for the candidate city phase. The campaign now is about the technical side of the bid."

Paris failed in their bids for the 1992 and 2008 Games when they were accused of being too arrogant. Baudillon is clearly keen for the French to play safe, stay humble and work behind the scenes to win friends.

The Paris bid, which has cost £2.8bn, points to the important legacy of the athletes' village which will be redeveloped and turned into an " Olympic quartier" after the Games with low-cost housing, businesses and parkland.

The concept helps the International Olympic Committee to leave a mark in Paris. But it is just a blip compared to London's hopes of regenerating the Lower Lea Valley where the main stadium and the new facilities would be built. That will be turned into Europe's biggest urban park for hundreds of years. So London wins the legacy argument.

In terms of iconic venues, the two cities are pretty equal. London can match the Eiffel Tower with events at Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade, while Wimbledon and Wembley are bigger names globally than Roland Garros and the Parc des Princes.

London also has nothing to fear from the overall sports concept in the French capital which is based on two main clusters in the north and west of the city, both within a 10-minute journey of the village.

Anybody who has travelled on the Paris "peripherique" ring road knows there is just as much chance of athletes being held up by traffic in central Paris than in east London.

What the French do have over London is the experience of staging major events like last year's world athletics championships and the 1998 World Cup. They also have the

knowledg e from their two previous bids. That determination counts for something in the IOC. London Bid leader Seb Coe will have to stress how Britain has bid before with Birmingham and Manchester.

Surprisingly, the Paris document provided to the media today contains no pictures of famous French athletes or passionate crowds. London, by contrast, has put a dramatic picture on the first page of its bid book with Sir Steve Redgrave carrying the Athens Olympics torch down the Mall with thousands of flag-waving fans in the background.

The huge British contingent of supporters who made their presence felt in Athens in August has also been noticed by IOC members.

Paris is talking about love while London is already demonstrating it.