Oceania

Workmen at Sydney's Olympic stadium were forced into an embarrassing cover-up on Wednesday after accidentally revealing the Olympic cauldron to media.

Sportswear giant Nike has unveiled the second phase of its pre-Olympic advertising campaign in Australia ? home of this year?s Summer Olympics.

U.S. Olympic officials undermined anti-doping programmes so effectively that half the U.S. athletes who have tested positive in recent years have not been sanctioned, a former official charged in a lawsuit.

International Olympic Committee vice-president Kevan Gosper has admitted that he and Sydney 2000 Olympics organisers made mistakes in their preparations for September's Games.

Tennis fans who had restricted viewing of the weekend's Davis Cup semifinal between Australia and Brazil from a temporary stand are to get their money back.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB), accused in the past of not taking a leading role in stamping out corruption in the game, will host an anti-corruption conference in Melbourne this week.

Two of France's leading rugby league teams are set to merge and create a "superclub" for the 2000-2001 season.

Canberra?s Cosmos football club have become the fourth National Soccer League club to enter administration in the past two years.

The Canadian Olympic Association has signed a major multi-million-dollar, multi-year sponsorship agreement with Canada's Gas Station company: Petro-Canada.

The International Olympic Committee has appointed Sports Marketing Surveys to conduct worldwide television monitoring and broadcast analysis research for the Sydney Olympic Games.

The World Cup short-course swimming series has been cut from 12 meetings to 10 and will offer more prize money.

In twin announcements in London and Berlin, officials of the CART FedEx Championship Series announced the debut of Champ Cars on ovals in Britain and Germany in September 2001.

This summer?s Olympic Games are being dubbed the `Internet Games? as the world logs on to get the lowdown on sport?s premier event.

Russia's individual Olympic gold medal-winners at the Sydney Games in September can expect a $100,000 bonus, the country's leading sports official have said.

Sportswear giant adidas is hoping to make a splash with its new full body swimsuit ? and has made a formal offer to USA Swimming to provide it free of charge to all athletes who have qualified for the US Olympic trials.

The Television Corporation has acquired independent Venner TV Ltd (VTV), producers of Channel 4?s coverage in the UK of the Tour de France and a host of other sporting programmes.