France’s sports minister questioned the wisdom of Paris bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

“Paris has been refused three times. Yes, three times,” Jean-Francois Lamour told the French sports newspaper L’Equipe, which ran a banner headline, “Why London?” Paris, widely considered the front-runner for 2012, also lost bids for the 1992 and 2008 Games.

Soon after the IOC announced Wednesday that London had won, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin promised that France would proceed with construction of Olympic venues, from a pool to a cycling stadium. His remarks suggested Paris might try again one day. The sports minister suggested otherwise.

“Frankly, trying again for 2016 seems very risky,” Lamour said. “I can’t see it.”

Le Parisien’s banner headline was “Sadness and Anger.” The daily La Voix du Nord wrote, “Paris knocked out.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister, said France should ask itself some tough questions.

“Tony Blair has an aura, charisma. He represents something,” Strauss-Kahn said, referring to the British prime minister, who belatedly but effectively lobbied hard for London.

“Maybe our candidacy was technically perfect, but its presentation wasn’t as modern as others,” he told RMC-Info radio.

The blame in Spain:
A member of Spain’s opposition party blamed the prime minister for Madrid’s Olympic loss.

The IOC vote for the 2012 Games was won by London on Wednesday in Singapore. But after round two, Madrid led with 32 votes, ahead of London (27), Paris (25) and New York (16). Moscow was out after the first round.

New York finished last in the second round and was eliminated. The three Americans on the IOC — barred from voting until then — were then able to cast ballots.

Slide show   London 2012 London won the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and plans to transform 1,500 acres of east London's Lower Lea Valley into the main Olympic site.

In the third round, Madrid apparently lured none of New York’s 16 votes or those of the three Americans. Spain’s capital even lost a vote because a Greek supporter took too long to push the right button and was disqualified. Madrid ended with 31, two fewer than Paris and eight behind London.

Angel Acebes, secretary general of the conservative Popular Party, faulted Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for Spain’s failure to draw any of the New York votes.

Acebes said Madrid was paying the price for Zapatero’s “absolutely wrong” foreign policy, which included withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq right after taking office in April last year.

He also pointed to October 2003. Zapatero, then opposition leader, remained seated when a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard carrying the American flag walked past Zapatero and other VIPs during a parade in Madrid. Everybody else stood. The Iraq war, which Zapatero opposed, was under way.

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“You can’t come away unscathed when you offend symbols, a country and their representatives,” Acebes said.

The Socialist Party’s top official for international relations, Trinidad Jimenez, denied the IOC vote had anything do with Spanish foreign policy. “It does not respond to any geopolitical interest,” she said in Singapore.

Out in Africa:
Kenya isn’t ready to bid for the 2016 Olympics because it lacks modern sports facilities and funding and has a dilapidated transportation system, the country’s Olympic chief said Thursday in remarks contradicting the sports minister.

Sports Minister Ochillo Ayacko said in January that Kenya plans to bid for the 2016 Olympics and bring the games to Africa for the first time. The East African nation has dominated long-distance track at the Olympics since the 1970s.

“We’re not ready to host the Olympics. Instead we should first go for games like the world cross country, which we’re bidding to host (in 2007),” Tom Omuombo, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee said shortly after London won the rights to the 2012 Games.

Omuombo wants to advise Ayacko on the enormous task facing Kenya if it wants to bid for the games.

Cape Town, South Africa, finished third in the vote for the 2004 Olympics, which were held in Athens, Greece. Cairo, Egypt, was eliminated early in the campaign for 2008, which was won by Beijing.