Rant: How Chirac was Finnished
6 Jul 2005 by Glory Sergei
When Jacques Chirac claimed, not unreasonably, that perhaps Haggis is not the most wonderful foodstuff available to man, he made another crucial error.The French president argued that Finland, land of the salted herring and Elk biltong, was the only country in Europe to have worse cuisine than the UK. This angered our Scandinavian friends.
A few facts to ponder:
Fact 1: Finland has two members on the IOC committee, which voted anonymously for the 2012 Olympic host city today.
Fact 2: London beat Paris by 54 votes to 50.
Fact 3: Assuming they voted for London, two Finnish votes for Paris would have led to a dead heat.
Fact 4: In the event of a dead heat, IOC president Jacques Rogge has the casting ballot.
Fact 5: Rogge had made it clear that he favoured the Paris bid.
As the Finns trip merrily back to the midnight sun, they can applaud themselves on an excellent and untraceable act of revenge.
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