Oceania

Germany's former Olympic fencer Thomas Bach said on Friday he would seek election as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president at a session in September in Sydney.

The president of Carlton, the Australian Rules football club, has called the AFL?s decision to impose heavy sanctions on any club that fails to adhere to the current television rights agreement ? an absolute joke?.

LookSmart, the Internet search infrastructure company, has signed the first sponsorship contract for the official site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said it will continue to press the European Union for a special exemption to limit the affects of the Bosman ruling that opened up soccer to free agency.

S:COMM, the Stockholm-based market research compnay, has agreed a partnership with Lynne Anderson Consulting Group in Sydney, Australia. The group will add S:Comm?s Spindex monitoring service to its value-added services for brand exposure evaluation during spring 2000.

Romanian Gabriela Szabo, the world's leading women's track athlete last year, plans to stand for election to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at this year's Sydney Games.

Canada has announced it is to boost official funding for its impoverished amateur athletes by 50 percent to help them eat and train properly in the run-up to the Sydney Summer Olympics.

The IOC will fill the gaps in its membership left by the Salt Lake City Winter Games scandal in Sydney next September, executive board member Thomas Bach has said.

Australian Defence Minister John Moore has denied local media speculation that U.S. President Bill Clinton had decided not to attend the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games because of security concerns.

Thousands of ordinary Australians have the chance to go to the Sydney Olympics after missing out on tickets when organisers secretly siphoned off the best seats to the wealthy.

Emergency repairs are needed at the Sydney Olympics swimming venue after engineers discovered at least six structural faults which threatened the safety of construction workers.

Australia?s Network Ten and Village Roadshow have taken a 25% stake in iSport, the Internet sports company that provides sporting organisations access to its online sports platform, iSport Advantage.

Australian broadcaster the Seven Network Ltd has said its pay-TV unit C7 is to take a stake in digital broadband services provider Access1 Ltd as part of a content alliance.

Australian unionists angered by planned job cuts could disrupt a key sponsor's preparations for Sydney's Olympic Games, according to a local newspaper report.

Sportal has signed a two-year sponsorship and website deal with Formula One team Benetton.

The chief executive of the AFL, Wayne Jackson, has said the opening of Melbourne?s new Colonial Stadium was an outstanding success.