Según una investigación de la BBC, Londres será sede de los Juegos Olímpicos del 2012 por un error. Apoyándose en declaraciones de un miembro del COI, el israelí Alex Gilady, se colocó por error un voto de Madrid en la urna de París:

“London was ahead, but Paris and Madrid were 33-31 in the votes,” said Gilady.

“Let’s say what we think now happened, that one member made a mistake and voted for Paris rather than Madrid.

“If he had voted for Madrid it would be 32-32. We would have to have had a vote-off.

“In the vote-off all the votes supporting London would go to Madrid, because the fear was that Paris had a big chance to win.

“Madrid would then have won against Paris.

“Coming to the final against London, all the votes from Paris would have gone to support Madrid.

“Madrid would have won.

“That is now what we think happened. This is what you call good fortune and good luck.”

BBC News, 23 de diciembre de 2005

El supuesto error ocurrió en la tercera ronda de votaciones, y curiosamente durante esa etapa se demoró el resultado de la votación porque un miembro del COI, de Grecia, presentó quejas por su voto. Madrid debió haber sido la sede bajo esta lógica, pero nunca se sabrá a ciencia cierta.