Sneers from the French, whining in Oz - how other nations view the London 2012 Olympics

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Nations across the world have had voiced such wonderful, and harsh, criticism on the London 2012 Games

While the British have been overwhelmed by the record breaking success of Team GB, what do the rest of the world think about the London Olympics? Here, the Daily Mail looks at a cross-section of the foreign press coverage...

FRANCE
Predictably, it’s been sour-grapes time for the French who are still very sore that London beat Paris to host the 2012 Games.
There have been several sly attacks on the success of the so-called ‘les rosbifs’ in traditional Gallic sports such as cycling and sailing.
An internet poll by the French sports magazine L’Equipe (The Team) suggests that 70 per cent of its readers think the success of British cyclists has been ‘tainted by cheating’.

Sacre bleu: French sports magazine L'Equipe went for the British cycling team's jugular after its phenomenal success

This followed comments by France’s cycling team director Isabelle Gautheron who said: ‘We are asking a lot of questions: how have they gained so many tenths of seconds?
‘Have they found a new training process based on certain energy pathways? I am not talking about any illicit product, because anti-doping tests are so strong.

Perplexed: Both France's Le Monde and Liberation newspapers reported that France's track cycling team director Isabelle Gautheron said Team GB's cycling excellence had left her 'puzzled'

‘We are looking a lot at the kit they use. They hide their wheels a lot. The ones for the bikes they race on are put in wheel covers at the finish.’
There have also been barely disguised insinuations about the British using a ‘special preparation’ which has helped their success, although the French have stopped short of directly accusing their rivals of using drugs.
L’Equipe defended their controversial poll, saying that many readers had noted ‘a certain chauvinism and lack of fair play’ among the British.

Go Wiggo go! Gold medalist Bradley Wiggins competes in the individual time trial, weeks after being the first Englishman to win the Tour de France

Perhaps the French are just bad losers and still can’t cope with the fact that Bradley Wiggins last month became the first Englishman to win the Tour de France.
AMERICA
London, according to one American reporter, has earned the title: ‘The happiest place on Earth.’
Under the headline ‘British success loosens London’s stiff upper lip’, the USA Today newspaper conceded that Disneyland may have lost its reputation as the world’s Happyville.
Describing London, he wrote: ‘This normally dour city, a place of weepy grey skies and chilly demeanour, has been transformed into an enclave of smiling Olympic volunteers, efficient transit systems and joyful crowds.

Across the pond praise: The Washington Post's Sally Jenkins is so impressed she's thinking of changing her citizenship while USA Today also praised the Games

‘Business suits are out; silly flag-themed costumes are in.
'And the favourite pre-Games activity of griping about the Olympics has been replaced by basking in the Olympics.’
Meanwhile, Sally Jenkins, of the Washington Post, found herself overwhelmed with British patriotism.
‘I’m changing my citizenship. I like to be on the winning side, and the winning side in this Olympics is British.’

Better than Mickey Mouse: According to USA Today London has now replaced Disneyland as 'The happiest place on Earth'

source: dailymail