Greece

Warsaw is ready to campaign for the 2016 Summer Olympics - more than seven years before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) starts considering official bids.

Visa International has agreed to renew its Olympic partnership as a TOP Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 and the Olympic Summer Games in Athens in 2004.

The president of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organising Committee, central banker Panayotis Thomopoulos, said that Greece's economic growth could rise by an extra seven percent between 2001 and 2005 because of the Games.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA is to lay down new guidelines to control on-screen virtual advertising during televised matches.

Madrid mayor Jose Maria Alvarez del Manzano has reiterated his desire for the Spanish capital to bid for the Olympics as soon as feasible.

Dutch soccer club PSV Eindhoven chairman Harry van Raaij believes his club will quit the Dutch championship to play in a 16-team European league by 2002, according to reports.

Representatives from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will visit Athens on January 26 and 27 to discuss preparations for the 2004 Summer Games, an Athens 2004 official has said.

The Athens 2004 Olympic Committee said it has begun seismic testing at the site where it plans to build its Olympic village, close to a faultline that produced a 5.9 Richter scale earthquake in September.

Marriott International has been named the Official Lodging Supplier of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the 2000, 2002 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams.

Tickets.com, a leading one-stop online provider of sports, entertainment and travel tickets and event information, has been named as the Official Ticketing Services Supplier for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

(Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged Greece to speed up preparations for the Athens 2004 Summer Games and called for unity among members of the organising committee.

Sukom Ninety Eight Berhad has appointed the DRB-Hicom Group as the official sponsor of cars and motorcycles for the 19th Commonwealth Games.

Swedish Minister of Sports, Lars Enqvist, has made an energetic start at his new role. Along with Olof Stenhammar, former campaign-leader for Stockholm's 2004 bid for the Summer Olympics, Engqvist has presented a plan to make Sweden an Olympic force.

ENIC Plc, which controls three European soccer clubs, has said that European soccer authority UEFA's decision to block clubs with common ownership from playing each other in European competition is in breach of European Union law.

PR company Bell Pottinger Communications has a new role in sport.

In response to a threatened player boycott of the world championships, U.S. basketball authorities might enter a team excluding the 12 NBA players already chosen.