France [Images] reacted with stunned disbelief on Wednesday when Paris was beaten by London [Images] in the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

The French had been confident of success and silence fell over a nervous crowd watching a large screen outside Paris City Hall when International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announced the surprise decision.

Also Read London awarded 2012 Games Indian contributes to London's bid How London won the 2012 bid

The questions began immediately -- was it another sign that France is doomed to fail or the result of more aggressive British lobbying and behind-the-scenes deals?

How had a bid that had been the favourite for so long ended up being pipped by four votes by a British campaign that seemed to gain momentum in the final days?

There were no easy answers to be found.

"It's hard...It's a great disappointment, a great emptiness around us all," French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour, a former Olympic fencing champion, told reporters in Singapore.

"We gave the best we could, we spoke from our guts, with our heart...but it seems it didn't convince the IOC."

Thierry Rey, another former Olympic judo champion, summed up the sense of incredulity surround the French camp.

"This is huge, we don't understand... I don't know what happened. What more could we have done?" he said.

"Sportsmen, politicians, all French people were behind this candidature. I wonder if sometimes people don't want us."

Asked what the mood was like at the time of the announcement, a tearful Rey said:

"It was as though we went from 40 degrees centigrade to minus two. We took a major body blow."

The race to host the Olympics [Images] had widely been portrayed as a showdown between French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair [Images] after they clashed at a European Union summit last month over the EU's long-term finances.

On being told of the news, Chirac congratulated London then thanked the team behind the French bid for their "commitment, professionalism and the spirit of fair play that had always guided it".

Officials were at a loss to explain Paris's third failed bid in the last 20 years." I just don't understand," Franco-American NBA basketball player Tony Parker said.

Henri Serandour, president of French Olympic Committee, said Paris appeared to have lost because the countries that backed third-placed Madrid did not swing in large enough numbers to the French capital in the final round.

French media had also widely reported suggestions that Britain was using underhand tactics in last-minute lobbying to win the Games, notably by openly sniping at the French plan.

At Paris's Gare du Nord railway station, the terminus for the Eurostar train service with London, reaction was split down national lines.

"I'm disappointed. We hoped Paris was going to win," said one employee. He wore a T-shirt with 'I'm supporting Paris' on the front and 'I'm supporting London' on the back -- but said his preference had always been for Paris.

(Additional reporting by Tiziana Cauli, Tom Heneghan and Timothy Heritage)