The Australian

September 23, 2004 Thursday All-round Country Edition

SECTION: SPORT; Pg. 37

LENGTH: 138 words

HEADLINE: No Paralympic TV may cost New York Olympics –

ATHENS 2004
PARALYMPIC GAMES

SOURCE: The Times

BODY:
NEW YORK's hopes of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 may
have withered in the Athens heat amid criticism of the absence of any US
television network at the Paralympic Games.

NBC, the US television rights holders, had 3500 people in the Greek
capital for the Olympics; no-one has stayed for this event.

Senior International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and IOC officials have
privately expressed anger that there is almost no coverage in the US. This
lack of enthusiasm may have lost an already weak bid more votes, and it is
a contradiction for a country where equal opportunities for disabilities
are rigorously defended.

The IOC and the IPC have strengthened their links. The agreement to stage
the Paralympics after the Olympics in the same city, which runs until
2012, is likely to be extended.