London's selection comes as jolly good news

LONDON -- As news of the International Olympic Committee's decision swept the city yesterday and Londoners descended upon Trafalgar Square, many Britons reacted with glee at the prospect of hosting the 2012 Summer Games. But more importantly for many, the victory came at the expense of the French.

''Well, it's nice to get one over them," said Darryl Redmond, 21, an employee at St Pancras train station. ''And it's nice to see Tony Blair get one over Chirac."

Redmond spoke in the shadow of a massive statue of Lord Nelson, who led the British to victory against the Napoleon-led French in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Britain will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle in October, and for many Britons, yesterday's win was just one more point for Britain in the ongoing rivalry between the nations.

''Two hundred years ago the Battle of Trafalgar, and today the Battle of Singapore," wrote David Mellor in a column in yesterday's Evening Standard tabloid. Jo Arscott, 38, who works in advertising, put it more bluntly: ''I'm so [expletive] glad that France lost."

London's underdog victory -- Paris was widely expected to win the 2012 Games -- made the win all the more sweet to Britons. ''I think the French are a bit choked up. I think they thought they had it won," said Terence Blissett, 67, a retiree. ''It's arrogance."

And as the heavy morning clouds parted to reveal a brilliant sun soon after the IOC announcement, even the weather seemed to mark the occasion. ''I knew it all along. It's our first bid and we won it," exclaimed Sheila Morgan, 54, who is unemployed because of illness. ''That's why the sun is shining."

While the British are always glad to claim victory over the French, London's Olympic victory also comes on the heels of French president Jacques Chirac's well-publicized slight of British food.

According to the French newspaper Liberation, at a meeting with German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Sunday, Chirac quipped about the British, ''One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad." The newspaper also quoted Chirac as saying that ''the only thing they [the British] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease."

Yesterday's victory provided Britons with a delicious opportunity to lash back at Chirac's jokes.

''This Chirac is an old man and he's losing contact with this generation. He can talk and talk, it doesn't matter," said Larry Humphreys, 44, who wore a large hat with the British flag and attached London 2012 pins to his lapel, and who is self-employed in promotional work. ''Chirac was condemning British food. Why didn't he have the guts to say that to Mrs. Blair when he was a guest at their house?"

Some even counterattacked with food jibes of their own. ''Who wants to eat snails?" asked Redmond. ''We keep them in our gardens; they put them on their plates." Redmond's colleague at St Pancras station, Annie Butler, 47, believed that Chirac's loose talk came back to haunt him in the IOC's decision. ''I think that's what brought them down," she said.

But as the confetti in Trafalgar Square was trampled by afternoon commuters and technicians began dismantling the massive screens that broadcast the announcement, some Londoners turned their thoughts from their neighbors across the Channel, and expressed high hopes that the Olympics will help rejuvenate London.

According to Lynda Howells, 53, a photographer, the new sports facilities that will now be constructed in London are desperately needed. ''We have children in this country who want to run and swim, and there are no facilities," Howells said.

And Stephen Thompson, 31, a painter and decorator from East London -- an impoverished area of the city that will house some Olympic structures -- strongly believed that the Games would raise the spirits of those in his neighborhood.

The Olympics, Thompson said, ''brings into people's living rooms a bit of reality. It brings home nice, warm feelings. It will bring so many jobs. It will raise so many kids' morale."