Finland

Sion officials have made the trip to Olympic headquarters, formally submitting their bid to host the 2006 Winter Games.

Switzerland's President Flavio Cotti has asked for the support of France and other French-speaking states for his country's bid to stage the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Italy's Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema met Fiat honorary chairman Giovanni Agnelli and other members of a Turin-based group on Monday to discuss the city's bid to host the 2006 winter Olympic Games.

Margot Jackson, an Australian who won the 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the 1952 Helsinki Games, has been appointed to the board of the Sydney 2000 Olympic organising committee.

A joint four nation Nordic bid to host the European Championship finals of 2008 is to be considered, a spokesman for the Danish soccer federation has said.

The Salt Lake City bid scandal has claimed a second International Olympic Committee (IOC) victim when Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi of Libya resigned as a member today.

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.

1.DIRTY TRICKS SURFACE IN IOC SCANDAL

2.KENYA'S MUKORA QUITS IOC

3.SAMARANCH DEFIANT, TOO

4.2006 WINTER OLYMPIC BIDDERS FACE CONFUSION, NEW RULES

5.2012 BIDS

6.HOT FILE

Six European cities desperate for their two weeks in the world spotlight will pledge their undying loyalty to the Olympic movement next week as the contest to host the 2006 Winter Games reaches its climax.

Turin officials have identified Swiss rivals Sion as potential winners when the IOC votes this Saturday to decide the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The Austrian town of Klagenfurt kicked off the final day's campaigning for the right to host the 2006 Winter Games, wheeling out 1976 Olympic downhill champion Franz Klammer to try to win over the International Olympic Committee.

Turin have beaten the Swiss favourites Sion to host the 2006 Winter Games in the first selection of a host city since the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

Australia's greatest ever Olympian, swimmer Dawn Fraser, has warned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of a possible athletes' protest at next year's Sydney Olympics if the organisation refused to reform itself properly.

Nestling in vineyards on the outskirts of Vienna, the tiny village of Seebarn is an unlikely place to host a cricket tournament - especially one involving Finland and Croatia. For more on this story see the FEATURES section of sportbusiness.com.

A three-year agreement between the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the NHL over compensation payments for players leaving IIHF-federations to find their fortune in the big money US league, is on the verge of being ratified.

The Nordic Golf Federation is to launch a campaign to have golf included in the 2008 Olympic Games.