French city seeks 2012 athletes

France and England hope to attract 2012 athletes and tourism

A French city has launched a 20m euro (£17m) bid to encourage 2012 athletes to train in France rather than England.

Calais hopes to attract international athletes with training facilities including a bike-racing velodrome, gymnastic centre and wrestling hall.

The city, which is one hour from London by Eurostar, has a similar climate.

Calais council leader Dominique Dupilet said: "We are so close that we consider ourselves the English region that the British might forget about."

Mr Dupilet said athletes from Egypt and Senegal have already signed up to train in Calais.

"We've had the Union Jack flag in our offices from the moment they made the announcement that London had won," he said.

"We are British because we are just 20km (12.4 miles) away from England as the crow flies. And the English occupied us for hundreds of years."

Councils in London, which hope to attract athletes and tourists in the run-up to the 2012 Games, were not convinced.

Wandsworth councillor Sarah McDermott said she hoped athletes would use its own Millennium Arena athletics facility in Battersea Park.

She said: "We've got easy access to the Olympic site and obviously, unlike Calais, we don't have to shuttle people across water to get here."

Calais council believes its climate and distance from London will attract international athletes