COUNTDOWN TO OLYMPICS
* Days until opening ceremony: 17.
* Olympic update: The International Olympic Committee approved a test for the banned performance-enhancing drug EPO at the Sydney Olympics.
* March to the medals: Three days after running a season-best 9.88 seconds in Brussels, Olympic favorite Maurice Greene finished third in a 100-meter race in Gateshead, England, in a mediocre 10.24 seconds.
* Carrying the torch: Spent the day in the Hunter Valley wine country, stopping for the night at Cessnock--where there was a food and wine fair greeting its arrival.
* Olympic footnote: The IOC selected Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka as finalists in the bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics. A choice will be made in Moscow in July 2001.
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