& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

ATHENS STREET TALK

AFP, Athens
Posters depicting Greek sprinter Ekaterini Thanou are being hastily replaced around the Olympic host city by those of Australian swimming superstar Ian Thorpe after she pulled out of the Games in the wake of a missed drugs test along with her training partner Kostadinos Kenteris.
"Since she won't start in the Games, it makes no sense to utilise her as an advertising agent. So we decided yesterday to replace her with Ian Thorpe, " said Adidas International corporate spokesman Jan Runau.
But the sportswear company's contract with Thanou will not be terminated until a final decision has been made on her fate.
"We have a very clear doping policy. There is a clause in all our sponsoring contracts that we can immediately cancel them if an athlete is proved doped and is banned from
his own national or international federation".
So far there is no proof.
ARRON CALLS
TO SCRAP IT
French sprint star Christine Arron says the women's world record for the 100 metres should be wiped from the books because it is unrealistic.
The mark of 10.49sec was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner, around whom doping allegations swirled until her sudden death at the age of 38.
"It hurts to see a 100 metres world record at 10.49 seconds," Arron said ahead of her attempt to win Olympic gold in the event.
"But that is the way it is and there is no point dwelling on it." The French woman's personal best time is 10.73sec.
Griffith-Joyner won an Olympic silver medal at 200m in 1984 before
FROM PAGE 13
making a startling improvement and won the sprint double at the 1988 Seoul Games. Her world records in the 100m and 200m (21.34sec) have been untouchable ever since. She died in her sleep from an epileptic seizure that led her to suffocate.
SICK OF ERIC
All eyes will be on Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenya's Bernard Lagat when the gun goes for the heats of the 1,500 metres on Friday but there is also Equatorial Guinea's Roberto Caracciolo to consider.
Caracciolo hails from the same country that sent the infamous Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani to the Sydney Olympics.
Unlike Moussambani, the infa-
mously slow paddler in the Sydney swimming pool, Caracciolo is based at a US college and is competent runner -and he is fed up with questions about Eric, who has not been brought to Athens.
"I don't know if Eric not being here in Athens is a blessing or not. I guess if he had been, it would have taken some of the heat off me. At the same time, I might have just punched him and said 'what the hell are you doing, man?'"
"Unfortunately it's something the rest of us are going to have to live for many, many years," Caracciolo told the BBC.
JAIL FOR OLYMPIC POOL JUMP
A Canadian man advertising an online
gaming site, who broke security and jumped into the Olympic diving pool, has been given a five-month prison term for trespassing and disturbing public order, court officials say.
"He has appealed the decision and was released without bail," the official said on Wednesday.
The man, who disrupted the men's three-metre synchronised diving on Monday when he climbed up on a springboard and jumped into the indoor pool to the delight of hundreds of cheering fans, was also fined 300 euros (191 pounds)
Wearing a tutu and with the website address written on his chest, he raced up the ladder, dodging tight Games security.