Olympics

Three European cities--Innsbruck, Austria; Ostersund, Sweden, and Lillehammer, Norway--have offered to hold the 2002 Olympics if Salt Lake City is unable to because of the widening bribery scandal.

IOC director general Francois Carrard told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick that the three cities have made official proposals. However, he stressed the IOC is intent on keeping the Winter Games in Salt Lake.

“There is no way the IOC wants to do that,” he said when asked if the IOC would switch venues.

Meanwhile, Sydney, Australia’s Olympic organizing committee reassured corporate sponsors worried about corruption in the Olympic movement that its winning bid for the 2000 Summer Games was free of bribery.

No one “should have reason to believe that Sydney has cause to be embarrassed about the integrity of its bid,” Sandy Hollway, the spokesman for the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, said.

Miscellany

Surrounded by Cuban families enjoying a day at the ballpark in Havana, Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos attended a game as part of his plan to arrange baseball exhibitions in Baltimore and Cuba.

“The negotiations are going as expected,” Angelos said as he arrived at the Latinamericano Stadium near Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution.

Jean-Louis Schlesser won the Dakar Rally, a grueling 17-day trek that began in Granada, Spain, and ended in Senegal. Schlesser, riding in a self-designed two-wheel-drive buggy, earned his first victory in the rally after finishing fourth in the 16th and final leg of the race, a 240-kilometer event from the colonial capital of Saint Louis to Lac Rose.

Tatiana Pozdnyakova of Ukraine, who won the 1996 Houston Marathon but was disqualified for using a banned substance, overcame slippery streets and humidity to win the women’s event for the third time. Her time was 2:33:23. Finishing back in the pack, in 4:15, was gymnast Kerri Strug. Winning the men’s title with a time of 2:14:56 was Stephen Ndungu of Kenya.

Trine Bakke of Norway earned her first World Cup victory in a women’s slalom over the difficult Kandahar course near St. Anton, Austria. Bakke negotiated the 46 gates down the steep and icy course in a two-run combined time of 1:22.84. Anja Paerson of Sweden was second, 0.04 seconds back.

Benjamin Raich of Austria won a men’s slalom at Wengen, Switzerland, the third victory of his rookie season on the World Cup circuit. Raich, who has recorded his three victories during a surprising 10-day run, finished 0.10 seconds ahead of runner-up Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland.

Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus overcame tricky winds to win a World Cup aerials competition at Steamboat Springs, Colo. In the women’s division, Jacqui Cooper of Australia won her second event in a row.

Diana Yardley, 67, wife of basketball Hall of Famer George Yardley, died at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach last week from complications after a recurrence of encephalitis (brain inflammation). A viewing will be held today from 3-7 p.m. at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar.