LONDON -- The 2012 London Olympic bid organizers staged a rally in Trafalgar Square Wednesday so people could watch the winning city announced on giant TV screens. It was the perfect place to do it.

The square is named for the British navy's crushing defeat of Napoleon in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar, thwarting a French invasion and establishing British naval supremacy. Wednesday, London beat the favorite Paris to host the Summer Games seven years hence.

The Olympic victory comes as Britain begins a four-month long celebration of the 200th anniversary of Lord Nelson's victory at Trafalgar. French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who both put in appearances in Singapore in recent days to lobby for their respective Olympic bids, are also scrapping over European Union finances and agricultural subsidies. It all adds up to a summer of new fireworks in the ancient British-French rivalry.

President Chirac, polite in a news release, wished "good luck and full success to the authorities and British people." But a few days ago, Mr. Chirac was reportedly overheard by a journalist saying of Britain, "You can't trust a nation with such bad cuisine." According to the report in the left-leaning French newspaper Liberation, he said British food was the worst in Europe, except for Finland, and added, "The only contribution they have made to agriculture is mad cow." A spokesman for Mr. Chirac couldn't be reached.

Mr. Blair took the diplomatic high road in declining to rebut. But that hasn't stopped the British newspapers from having some fun. The Times's lead editorial Wednesday: "Our friends the Finns; Finnish cuisine should be served in British pubs." The Sun ran the headline "Don't Talk Crepe" and dispatched a reporter dressed as a beefeater to Paris armed with a prime British beef rib joint to prove Mr. Chirac wrong. The French slur for the Brits is "rosbifs."

It is clear Mr. Chirac doesn't know much about food, said Rick Stein, a celebrated British chef who cooked a birthday dinner for the French president at Mr. Blair's residence at 10 Downing Street in November 2001. On the menu was Cornish lobster salad with lemon dressing and roast salt marsh lamb. Mr. Stein can't forgive Mr. Chirac for turning down the 1985 Chateau Latour, preferring instead to wash his meal down with Becks.

"Anybody that drinks beer through a banquet like I cooked for him you can't really take seriously when he talks about good food," Mr. Stein said Wednesday.

As with many storied rivalries, the British gripe about the French, but they also admire them. "We have this great love affair with the French," says Melvyn Bragg, a member of the House of Lords who wrote a British bestseller on the history of the English language. French became the language of the British nobility after the Norman invasion of 1066. "They really did almost wipe out English," Lord Bragg says. "We were an occupied people. That leaves deep scars."

The British were the largest group of foreign tourists in France last year, according to French government figures. The British are also the largest group of foreigners who own second homes in France.

Last week(JUNE 28), Britain began its celebration of the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar, honoring Lord Nelson for sinking or capturing 22 ships while losing none of England's more-nimble fleet. The Royal Navy massed 17 tall ships off the coast of southern Britain to re-enact the battle, with cannon fire and pyrotechnic blasts. The Queen sailed from Portsmouth, Lord Nelson's home base, and inspected the warships and other vessels, receiving a salute from each ship's crew.

More than 150 vessels attended. The French navy sent its largest ship -- the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. British organizers tried to spare French feelings by calling the re-enactment a battle between a "red fleet" and "blue fleet" instead of between the British and the French.

Mike Hancock, a member of Parliament representing the Portsmouth area, called the political correctness "comical, farcical." At least, he says, the outcome was clear. "The French were humiliated as they were in the original battle."

Wednesday's Olympic rally was held in Trafalgar Square because it is the traditional place for major public celebrations like New Year's Eve, said a spokesman for London Metropolitan Police.

Part of the British ambivalence toward the French is that the Brits don't view themselves as very successful in international sports or at staging international events. During the Olympic bidding process, the British perceived the French as displaying Gallic arrogance, while they thought London was almost certain to lose.

When London was announced as the winner Wednesday, James Hart, a 30-year-old off-duty policeman in Trafalgar Square, punched the air in surprised delight. "We are always the hungry losers," he said. "It's good for morale."

London's mayor Ken Livingstone said, in a TV interview just after London was announced as the winner, "We were assuming we were going to lose."

"We'll probably screw it up, just like everything else. But I'm glad we beat Paris. Anything to beat the French," said Simon Lunnon, a 39-year-old cab driver in London.

The Brits, themselves, often lament their lack of athletic might. Britain finished 10th in the Athens Games last summer with nine gold medals, behind France, which was seventh with 11 gold medals. France won the soccer World Cup in 1998; England, which claims to have invented soccer, hasn't won the World Cup since 1966. England's top soccer league is full of French players.

Building plans for the Games evoke World War II when the French surrendered, saving the beautiful boulevards of Paris, while London was heavily bombed. The Games will largely be staged in the working-class East End of London, one of the areas most heavily bombed during the blitz.

London plans to build a 500-acre Olympic park, with a stadium and other facilities. London's local government estimates the games will cost Britain $4.18 billion in public money.

Wednesday, the IOC played up the drama. It declared the other contending cities -- Madrid, Moscow and New York -- out of contention, then waited 45 minutes before announcing that London was the winner.

To egg on the crowd in Trafalgar Square Wednesday, five minutes before the news of London's victory came through, a British radio journalist in Singapore told the crowd that the "Paris team are muttering quietly in a corner, I think they are running scared." Many in the crowd laughed and clapped.

It was France's third failed Olympics bid. London hosted the games in 1908 and in 1948. Paris hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924.

Parisians stood in shocked silence after the award to London was announced. "Today is not the day to ask about the English," said Philippe Tonnelier, age 64, who works in local government. "It's always them first, England, England, England." He remained hopeful for revenge. "We'll see about 2016," he added.