Afghanistan misses olympics Sydney

Afghanistan had hoped to send an all-male team of wrestlers and weightlifters but permission was denied by the IOC.

Aboriginal embassy tent targeted

An aboriginal tent embassy that wasset up in inner-city Sydney to highlight indigenous issues during the September 15-October 1 Olympics has been targeted for legal action by the South Sydney Council.

The Council on Monday served tent embassy representatives with a legal injunction for alleged breaches of health, safety and noise regulations.

More than 36 tents DOT Victoria Park and up to a hundred campaigners have moved into the park since July 14. The South Sydney Council is seeking a reduction in the number of tents on site and wants the embassy area partitioned off from the public space.

Tent embassy spokesperson Elizabeth Coe said Aborigine people would refuse to leave the embassy because the council had welcomed them into the park and was now acting in bad faith.

“I don’t think (the council) has been entirely honest,” Coe said. “They led us right to this spot when we walked into this park.

“They welcomed us here, they welcomed us all day the next day, they told us it was only appropriate that the aboriginal tent embassy should be here.”

Coe said the attempted eviction was contrary to Olympic ideals.

“The Olympics are supposed to be about peace and justice and fair play for everyone — what about our justice?” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

The council, the local government authority in the area, has declined to comment on the issue.

KINGSTON: Jamaican sprint queen Merlene Ottey said she will not compete at the Sydney Olympics unless she is entered in the 100 metres.

Ottey, 40, finished fourth at the Jamaican Olympic trials here last month which only qualified her for the Jamaican 4 x 100m relay team.

Peta Gaye Dowdie, Beverley McDonald and Tanya Lawrence won the right to run the 100m At Sydney, but Ottey claims she will be quicker than all of them when the time comes to run at Sydney.

“I know I will be the fastest Jamaican around by the time the Olympics arrive. If I can only run in the relays, I will not compete… I will retire,” said Ottey, who had planned to make the Olympics her swansong after a glittering career.

Ottey is Jamaica’s most revered athlete, having won a record 23 World championships medals.

Despite finishing fourth at the trials, Ottey has been training for the 100m and is adamant that she will run the event.

Jamaica’s Amateur Athletic Association officials have hinted they will enter the former double 200m champion, but it remains unclear who she would bump from the lineup.

McDonald also qualified at 200m and she dropped out of the 100m at last year’s World championships when qualified for both due to scheduling conflicts.

However no such problem arises for Sydney and her coach is adamant she will utilise both the spots she has earned.

SYDNEY: International competitors who win medals at the Sydney Olympics next month may be hit with an Australian tax bill.

No prizemoney is paid to athletes at the Olympics but many earn bonuses from sponsors or governments or are paid lucrative fees for exclusive media interviews.

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Olympics project director Peter Rowe said today any money earned as a result of a medal-winning performance would be taxed in Australia, regardless of where the money was paid.

“It’s the performance, the location of the performance which is the critical issue,” Rowe said.

“And if the race takes place in Australia, regardless of where the contract might be entered into, or in fact even where payment is made, it is the income derived from that performance which gives rise to tax liability in Australia.”

The ATO will set up three offices here to advise foreign athletes and officials of their Australian tax obligations.

“This is not a revenue-raising exercise on behalf of the tax office,” Rowe claimed. “This is an exercise in ensuring that people understand what rights they have and what obligations they may need to meet.

“A number of the people that will be participating in the Games in one form or another will in fact be entitled to refunds of GST (Goods and Services Tax) and we want to ensure that those people receive their refunds speedily.”

Rowe said foreign media and athletes who are likely to earn money were being asked to register for an Australian Business Number.

North Korea leader declines invitation
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong II declined an invitation by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch to attend the Sydney Olympics, South Korean reports said on Monday.

In a letter last week, Samaranch invited the North Korean leader and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung to attend either the opening or closing ceremony of the September 15-October 1 Olympics.

The South Korean President has yet to respond to Samaranch’s invitation.

On Saturday, Kim Jong II told a group of 46 visiting South Korean media executives that he did not want to go to Sydney.

“Rather than becoming an actor at the Sydney Olympics, I’d rather go to Seoul first,” South Korean media quoted Kim saying.

Kim’s remarks were made public after the South Koreans returned from their eight-day visit on Saturday.

Under the agreement reached during a historic summit with his South Korean counterpart in June, Kim Jong II promised to visit Seoul, the South Korean capital.

Kim Jong told the South Koreans that he will send one of his confidants, Kim Yong Sun, to Seoul in September to fix the date of a visit.