Juan Antonio Samaranch

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe's Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year's International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on Monday.

Greece's bid to host the 1996 Olympics on the centenary of the modern Games in Athens seemed so ludicrous, it even featured in the verses of a song written by Lina Nikolakopoulou and performed by Haris Alexiou, poking fun at the audacity of such an ambitious undertaking by a country still struggling to join modernity.

Romania's multiple Olympic canoeing medallist Ivan Patzaichin has died at the age of 71, the Romanian Olympic Committee (COSR) announced on its Facebook page on Sunday. "He's a legend ... a champion has turned into a star. Ivan Patzaichin has left us. His story is the story of success, common sense and fine character.