Watch out for the man in the van at the Sydney Olympics. It could be IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch (left). In an interview with the Inter- national Herald Tribune newspaper published last week, Samaranch was asked how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would project itself in Sydney to combat its image as a "closed, pampered club".

When asked would he still be cosied up in the finest hotels and driving around in chauffeur-driven cars, he was coy. "We will be in a hotel, a normal hotel," the president replied. "I will have my bedroom and a living room to meet with the people from the delegations who want to see me. That is what I need.

"We will have a van to have some people with me, and we'll see. Listen, I need a car, don't I? But it will be a van."

Well that seems to be perfectly clear.