Flag to fly at half-mast for Mrs Samaranch

Sydney: The Olympic flag at the Sydney Games will be lowered to half-mast at Stadium Australia on Sunday following the death of the wife of International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch.

IOC vice-president Dick Pound of Canada, standing in at the Games for Samaranch after the Spaniard's mercy dash to Barcelona, said books of condolence would be laid out for members of the Olympic family to pay their respects.

A mass would also be said on Sunday, Pound told Reuters.

"We are going to lower the Olympic flag today at the stadium at 12 o'clock. We have sent our condolences," Pound said.

Spanish state radio's announcement of the death of Maria Teresa Salisachs in Barcelona came in the early hours of Sunday morning in Sydney.

Samaranch, 80, had left the Games by private jet on Saturday hours after the opening ceremony after his wife's condition worsened, but failed to reach Barcelona before his wife died.

Aged 67, she had been ill for several months.

Pound said Samaranch was expected to return to the Games after the funeral service. The IOC chief has been at the helm of the Olympic movement for 20 years and is presiding over his last Games before retiring.



(c) Reuters Limited.