genie: ben bernier is also at that center in paris where the launch took place. how did it all go? n: you had dozens of athletes right behind me at the french olympic center in paris. it is part of the strategy to put the athletes forward as opposed to politicians. there is a sense among the paris olympic authorities that during the last failed bid for the 2012 olympics, we saw too many politicians and not enough athletes. this was just about 30 minutes ago. many athletes were feeling excited and confident, and not arrogant. early trying not to appear overly arrogant. anne hidalgo, the mayor of paris, will be gathering students and young people by the seine river to support this olympic bid. genie: tell me what paris's chances really are this time around. ben: if you ask people behind me, they will tell you that paris is the favorite indeed. the main reason is that it is a fairly conservative budget. compared to the winter olympics, the budget in russia was 45 million euros. and the reason why paris is saying it can afford to host this major event is that many venues are already in