COUNTDOWN TO OLYMPICS

* Days until opening ceremony: 7.

* Olympic update: Nigerian 400-meter runner Hyginus Anugo was killed when struck by a car in Sydney while running for a bus to return to the Olympic village.

* March to the medals: C.J. Hunter, the 1999 world shotput champion and husband of Marion Jones, has undergone knee surgery that leaves him doubtful for the Olympics.

* Carrying the torch: A day after skiing down a snow-covered slope at Thredbo and being held briefly by former South African president Nelson Mandela, the torch followed a route from Cooma to Bega--with a stop in the former whaling port of Eden.

* Olympic footnote: NBC has sold a record $900 million in commercial time on its Sydney Olympics coverage and expects to make a small profit.