|
|
 |
 |   |
|
INTERNATIONAL NEWS EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Samaranch meets with Yeltsin
MOSCOW (AP) -- Outgoing IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch visited former President Boris Yeltsin on Saturday and discussed the evolution of the Olympics under his watch. Samaranch's successor is to be chosen July 16 in Moscow, where he was elected IOC president 21 years ago. The IOC also will choose the site for the 2008 Olympics. A delegation from Beijing -- deemed the front-runner among the five candidates -- arrived in Moscow on Saturday. Meeting in Yeltsin's country home in Barvikha outside Moscow, Yeltsin and Samaranch talked about changes in the Olympics and about Russian athletes, the Interfax news agency reported. It gave no other details of the meeting. Later Saturday, Samaranch helped unveil a children's tennis complex in Moscow. He was accompanied by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Russian tennis star Elena Dementieva. The IOC president said he would like to meet one-on-one with President Vladimir Putin. "I hope such a meeting with take place and that we can discuss the present and future of Russian sports," Samaranch said. One of the candidates to replace Samaranch, Dick Pound of Canada, arrived in Russia on Saturday. The two other leading candidates are Kim Un-Yong of South Korea and Jacques Rogge of Belgium. Anita De Frantz of the United States and Pal Schmitt of Hungary complete the field. The IOC's 112th session opens with a ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater on Thursday. On Friday, the IOC is to choose the host city for the 2008 Olympics. Beijing is considered the front-runner, with Paris and Toronto serious challengers. Istanbul, Turkey, and Osaka, Japan, are all but eliminated.
| |||||||||||||||||||
