Samaranch lavishes praise on Sydney Games

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Sydney: International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch on Saturday lavished praise on the Sydney Olympic Games."So far, so good," Samarach said.

"These are an exceptional Games with everything going well. The real winners are the people. The population are very much interested, helping and enjoying the Games. I think they will be great Games."

Samaranch had to fly to Spain after the opening ceremony because of the death of his wife but returned to Sydney on Wednesday. He said the Sydney ceremony was the most impressive opening to a Games he had witnessed.

"For me it was the best I have seen," he said at the Games shooting venue after presenting a gold medal to Slovenia's Rajmond Debevec, the winner of the men's 50 metre rifle three positions event.

He said the best Winter Games opening ceremony had been in Lillehammer, Norway. Samaranch told an impromptu news conference that the personal highlight of the Games for him had been earlier on Saturday, when he presented an Olympic gold pin to British rower Steve Redgrave after he won his fifth consecutive gold medal.

"I was there to congratulate him because he is an athlete who is really in the golden book of the history of the Olympic Games," Samaranch said.Redgrave teamed with Matthew Pinset, Tim Foster and James Cracknell to win the men's coxless fours.

The IOC president said the several drug cases - particularly in weightlifting - that have emerged during the Games had not tarnished the Olympic ideal."We are working now with much better conditions (against drugs)," he said. "We are now working with the governments against doping to great advantage."



(c) Reuters Limited.