Olympics briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

Samaranch's wife dies in Barcelona

SYDNEY, Australia -- A day after IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch presided over his last Olympic Opening Ceremonies, his gravely ill wife of 40 years died as Samaranch was flying back to Barcelona, Spain, to be with her.

Maria Teresa Salisachs-Rowe, 67 and reportedly suffering from cancer, died Saturday.

"She was not an IOC member, but she was a very close friend to all of us," said Pal Schmitt, an International Olympic Committee member from Hungary who is the IOC's protocol chief.

When he left, Samaranch said he expected to return by next weekend. But it was not certain whether he would be back at all.

RATINGS GAME: Friday night's NBC telecast drew a 16.1 national rating with a 29 share, making it the most-watched overseas Summer Games Opening Ceremonies. The rating is 17 percent higher than what the 1992 Barcelona Games received; it also is 32 percent lower than the 23.6 rating four years ago for Atlanta.

The opening ceremony broadcast drew its best result in West Palm Beach with a 23.7 rating.

Each national ratings point represents 1,008,000 households. Share represents the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the show. National ratings cover about 63 percent of the nation's population.

In Australia, Channel Seven's coverage of the ceremonies was the most-watched television event ever, the network said.

Channel Seven said the 41/2-hour show attracted a peak of 10.4-million viewers around Australia, according to figures supplied by AC Nielsen.

Seventy-two percent of television homes in host city Sydney tuned in to the live telecast, with other Australian cities all scoring a rating above 64 percent.

EAST TIMOR UPDATE: East Timorese weightlifter Martinho de Araujo lifted a combined 346.5 pounds in the snatch and the clean and jerk of the 123-pound class, finishing last. The winner lifted 605 pounds. The IOC ruled that four athletes from the former Indonesian province could participate as independents with no national markings on their uniforms. Until national independence is complete, East Timor cannot compete under its name.

SHOE DEAL: Vince Carter has a new shoe deal that will allow him to pay off his multimillion-dollar debt for walking away from his last one.

Carter signed a multi-year deal with Nike worth $30-million. He planned to wear his new sneakers, Nike Shox, in the U.S. men's basketball team's opening game against China today.

Of the $30-million, more than half of it will be used to pay off Carter's debt to Puma from a deal Carter breached.

DRUG TESTING: The 2002 Winter Games should be the first Olympics in which athletes are tested for human growth hormone, U.S. anti-doping officials said Saturday.

White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey and Frank Shorter, the former marathoner who will head the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said they expect a test for the banned performance-enhancer to be in place for 2002.

"I think it's just a question of how sophisticated the test will be," Shorter said.

In a related development, the U.S. government pledged $3.3-million to fund anti-doping programs for the Salt Lake Games.

Human growth hormone, designed to treat dwarfism, is used by athletes to build muscle. It is believed to be widely used in track and field, swimming and other summer sports. Its properties are less useful in winter sports.

CLARK, CLARK, CLARK: Barring last-minute changes of heart, all three members of the Clark family will run in the 800 meters.

Jearl Miles-Clark, who is married to J.J. Clark, her coach and brother of Joetta Clark-Diggs and Hazel Clark, said she will concentrate on the 800 and not run the 400. She qualified in both. She is expected to run on the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team, which expects to challenge for a gold medal.

AUSSIE ASYLUM: The Australian government expects some athletes or officials to request asylum during or after the Games but says that not all will be automatically accepted.