Athletics: France to say 'non' to opening ceremony?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's whirlwind tour of England this week was important for gamblers for just one reason - he highlighted that he may boycott the Olympic Games' opening ceremony. This potential political boycott prompted Irish bookmaker Paddy Power to price up which country would be the first to shun the summer extravaganza, with Sarkozy's French the unsurprising 3/1 favourite. Recent attacks on the Dalai Lama and increased anti-China protests have heightened unrest amongst some European countries and Sarkozy has so far been the most vocal voicing his concerns about China's actions in Tibet. He said on the eve of his whistle-stop tour: "Our Chinese friends must understand the worldwide concern that there is about Tibet. "I don't close the door to any option, but I think it's more prudent to reserve my responses to concrete developments in the situation." Mr Sarkozy's comments will increase pressure on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be more focused on his demands over Tibet, especially after the Commonwealth Office hit out at China's "violations" in the mountainous region and the "disappointing" lack of headway towards a peaceful resolution to the matter. The firm made the UK a 6/1 chance to shun the opening ceremony while America were second-favourites at 4/1. The USA famously led the Boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in opposition to the-then USSR's invasion of Afganistan with Japan, Canada, China itself and West Germany also in tow. Germany is a 10/1 chance to repeat their performance of 28 years ago, while Australia are 5/1, Italy 6/1, Ireland 8/1 and Greece 12/1. There have been numerous boycotts of the Olympics over the years with 1988, 1984, 1980, 1976, 1972 , 1968, 1964 all having some sort of political turmoil involved.