David Cameron laughs off French suspicion and allegations of foul play by British cyclists at Olympics, says they should be more gracious in defeat
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Britain’s Olympic cycling glory has driven France ‘mad’, and rejected claims of cheating by pointing out that the riders’ wheels are made across the Channel.
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“We’ve got a system that seems to be delivering. It’s driving the French mad,” Cameron told BBC radio in an interview. “I did an interview with French television yesterday and they virtually accused us of cheating. I think they found the Union Jacks on the Champs Elysees a bit hard to take,” he said, referring to Briton Bradley Wiggins’ victory last month in the Tour de France.
Feeling a bit jealous: British PM David Cameron and Prince Harry cheer on cyclists at the Olympic velodrome. Cameron reacted to claims that the British were cheating after they won seven out of 10 titles. Pic/AFP
Magic wheels?
In the interview Cameron laughed off French suspicions about the hosts’ stellar success in the velodrome at the London Games. “The French should know our secret because you make our wheels,” Cameron said, referring to the French manufacturer Mavic.
“You know they’re round. They go fast because they pedal hard,” he added, laughing. The British team took seven out of the 10 titles in the velodrome, prompting French technical director Isabelle Gautheron to say she was ‘perplexed’ by the success leading to calls and accusations of cheating.
No Games’ spirit
A majority (70 per cent) of 50,000 people who responded to a question in a French sports newspaper about whether
the British were “tainted by cheating” also said they suspected foul play. But Cameron said, “I think that it’s unfair to think that just because someone wins you have to doubt it.
The first reaction should be to say, ‘well done, congratulations’.” He added, “I understand that for France, which is a great cycling nation, it must be a bit hard to take but we have really done well and I’m sure that if France had won we would have been happy for you,” he added, still smiling.
Beach volleyball keeps Cameron up at night
David Cameron is being driven mad by the Maroon 5 hit song Moves like Jagger due to its incessant playing at the London 2012 Olympics beach volleyball venue. u00a0The song is being played every 10 minutes at Horse Guards Parade, which is set up just behind Downing Street. u00a0“It’s all very amusing for five minutes until you try to get the children to sleep. They have Moves like Jagger every sort of ten minutes,” said the exasperated PM.
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