China

Chinese sports officials have waded into the Olympic bribery row, saying Beijing may have been a victim of IOC corruption when it lost to Sydney in the contest to host the 2000 Games.

China rocked the Asian Games when their officials accused rival competitors of offering Chinese stars cash bribes to throw away guaranteed gold medals.

China's top sports official has decried corruption in the sporting world, saying bribery threatens the country's athletic development and could have a negative impact on social order, state media said on Tuesday.

China's top sports official has decried corruption in the sporting world, saying bribery threatens the country's athletic development and could have a negative impact on social order.

The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) today approved an application by Beijing to bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.

An official audit has revealed the hidden costs for Sydney taxpayers of the 2000 Olympic Games, but its most potentially explosive section contained no alarming costings at all.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola have taken their global rivalry out of the soft drink arena and on to the football field as they battle for the right to sponsor the mainland national football league in China.

A growing scandal over cash payments made by Australian sports officials to snag the 2000 Olympics has stirred anger in Beijing, which lost the bidding war to Sydney by a razor-thin margin.

Australian officials have vowed to polish the tarnished image of the Olympics, seeking to convince sponsors and potential spectators that Sydney's successful bid for the 2000 Games was clean.

Sydney and Salt Lake City Olympic officials have sought to reassure potential sponsors and spectators that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was dealing effectively with the biggest scandal in its 104-year history.

Sydney Lord Mayor Frank Sartor has said there was no need for the International Olympic Committee to investigate the city's bid for the 2000 Games but believed there should be greater scrutiny of the IOC itself.

China demanded on Tuesday an overhaul of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the methods by which it selected Olympic host cities.

The bidding process by cities hoping to host the Olympic games has been open to abuse for years and needs a radical revamp, the mayor of Cape Town, which failed to win the 2004 Games, has said.

Confusion over scheduling, disputes over judges' decisions, rumours of food poisoning and an upside down flag are some of the problems faced by organisers of this week's Asian Winter Games in South Korea.

U.S. agents have arrested three Taiwanese and a U.S. citizen on charges of smuggling millions of dollars worth of counterfeit golf equipment into the United States, the U.S. Customs Service has said.

Australia plans to host an international drugs-in-sport convention in Sydney this year to push for a tougher stance on drugs after the International Olympic Committee failed to approve uniform doping bans.

Pepsi has won soccer?s Far Eastern cola wars - beating arch-rival Coca-Cola in the race to sponsor China?s football league for the next five years.

The man in charge of the 2000 Sydney Olympics has proposed a full audit of the records of the city's bid for the Games to clear the air "for once and for all" on allegations of corruption.