As befits the most popular tourist destination in the world, Paris has no need to sell itself.

The city doesn't need the Games for commercial or political reasons.

The bid relies on its tried and trusted ability to stage major sporting events, and its belief that after 77 years, the Olympics should come back to where the Games were conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Anyone who attended the 1998 World Cup can testify that the French have a flair for staging events with flair, and there is little reason to doubt they could do the same again.

With immaculate timing, my visit to the Roland Garros tennis complex coincided with former United States president Bill Clinton.

However, I suspect his arrival may have done more to unsettle Agassi than mine!

Then we were off to Longchamp race course where some of the equestrian events would be held, and to the Grand Palais, just off the Champs Elysees.

Built over one hundred years ago with a huge, soaring glass roof, the Grand Palais has been earmarked for the fencing competition. Fencing is almost a national sport in France, but competitors will rarely have been allocated such a dramatic stage for their efforts.

One European city too far?

On their visit, the Evaluation Commission found little to grumble about apart from some reservations over the planning, design and operation of a new Olympic Village.

It was classified as "excellent", but an Olympics in another European city just four year after Athens in 2004 may be too much for some IOC members.

Claude Bebear, the urbane president of the Bid Committee, however dismissed it as a possible stumbling block.

He insisted Athens was the traditional birthplace of the Games, and there was a symmetry about it being followed by the birthplace of the founder of the Olympics.

The Paris bid | Clickable cities guide