L'important, c'est de participer

That excellent drawing dates back to Sydney. I was there in 2000, and loved every single second. There were quite a few people who didn't share my view of the matter, however, and were dead against the Olympic games - hence the work of art above (I'm still very very peeved that I never got that "Fuck the Olympics" mug).

After London and New York, the IOC are in Paris right now, checking out whether the city can really hold its own as olympic host, despite the French's die-hard anti-doping policy and all. All my fingers and toes are crossed. I hope we get the Games, I hope I get to work in that environment again, both in the run-up and during the Games, and I hope they're as excellent as the Sydney games were ("the best Games ever"...).
Still, let's not forget that a major strike is going on right at this specific moment. It's to do with the 35-hour week and how the current government wants to abandon that disposition, and with the fact that for the past three years, every action the government has taken was a blatant corporate suck-up and a very tall finger in the face of workers every where. But I digress.
That strike is obviously happening right now because it's meant to have leverage, as the powers that be don't really want anything jeopardising the Paris bid, but no one seems to be really threatened by it. Not the right-wing government, not the left-wing mayor. Bizarre. I do hope, in some very selfish way, that it won't harm the city's position in this particular competition. I also hope that France will, at some point, get out of that no-exit situation we seem to be in economically and socially.
I've heard that winning the games could be the one giant leap that's needed in that direction too, considering all that's implied, in terms of economic development, construction, employment, etc. I'm no expert, but wouldn't that be getting the best of both worlds?