SYDNEY 2000: A delegation from Sydney 2000 is taking a
crash course with ACOG officials in Atlanta. While almost 70% of
Sydney's proposed venues are built or under construction, they
face "enormous hurdles: building an Olympic village and an
Olympic stadium capable of holding 85,000 (Ken Foskett, ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 12/17).
WINTER 2002: The report analyzing the nine candidates to
host the 2002 Winter Games will be issued today by the IOC's
evaluation committee. The report will not be released publicly
until after everyone has departed from Atlanta (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 12/18).
SOUTH AFRICA 2004? The IOC is "receptive" to placing the
2004 Summer Games in Cape Town, South Africa. The final vote
won't be taken for three years, but Cape Town is the "front
runner." To demonstrate the financial ability to construct the
necessary venues, Cape Town organizers must "elicit support from
the other countries of the world as well as the international
corporate community." The main competition for 2004 will likely
come for Beijing. USOC President LeRoy Walker: "As much as we in
the IOC want to help them get the bid ... we won't just give it
to them. They have to put together a respectable bid" (Bob Ford,
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 12/17).
