E. Timor unlikely to be Sydney Games participant: IOC

SYDNEY, April 12 Kyodo

East Timor is unlikely to take part in the Sydney Games because it does not meet basic conditions for participants, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday.

East Timorese leader Jose Ramos-Horta called Monday for a symbolic appearance at the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies for East Timor, currently administered by the United Nations.

But IOC spokesman Franklin Servan Schreiber said any East Timor Olympic committee formed would not be officially recognized because East Timor is not a fully independent state and has no record of any athlete preparing for the games.

'We are not a political organization. If you talk about symbolic representation, you lose the focus. We are for athletes,' said Schreiber.

'Attendance at the Olympic Games does not bring political recognition, if it did we would be the U.N.,' he said.

Australian media reported Ramos-Horta's plea that the flags of the U.N. Transitional Administration and that of East Timor be displayed and the territory's national anthem be played at the Games opening and closing ceremonies.

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