Olympic Games: Madrid Use Terror Attacks to Try and Promote the City

In what surely must rank as one of the most ill-advised press releases of all time, organisers of Madrid's bid to host the 2012 Olympics have tried to use the terrorist attack on the city to promote their campaign.

International Olympic Committee members, already paranoid after a spate of scare-mongering stories about Athens' security preparations for this year's games, were said to be horrified when they heard about the release headlined: "The new Greek health minister highlights Spain's medical safety model after Madrid's attack."

Sent out on the eve of last week's memorial service, the release claimed the minister had contacted the Spanish embassy in Athens to discuss how to plan for a medical emergency on such a scale. "I want to be able to promise our visitors we can match the superb performance of Spain's medical safety net," he is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, London's Olympic bid could learn a lot from Atlanta's - simply don't tell the whole truth. According to an audit commissioned by police there, crime in the city was underreported for years "to improve Atlanta's chances for selection" as the host of the 1996 Olympics.