East Timor athletes travel to Australia for Olympic try-outs: UN mission
06 July -- Ten East Timorese athletes traveled today to Canberra, Australia, for a training and selection process for the Sydney Olympic Games, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said in Dili.
The team consists of three boxers, three marathoners, two weightlifters and two tae kwon do athletes. While the majority of the athletes will remain in Canberra, the boxing team will leave for Darwin on 17 July to train with the Australian boxing team for five weeks. From there, the boxers will go to Colorado Springs in the United States for additional training, UNTAET said.
The athletes were permitted to participate in the Games by a decision of the International Olympic Committee on 26 May.
In other developments, five journalists from Kupang, West Timor, are in Dili today in what is the first visit of West Timorese media to East Timor since the popular consultation of 30 August 1999, the UNTAET statement said.
The visits were arranged during a meeting in Dili on 8 June between West Timor Governor Piet Tallo and UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello. It was decided that an exchange of journalists from both countries would help accelerate the repatriation of some of the 120,000 refugees currently in West Timor.
"We believe that the journalists are our best vehicle in presenting objective and accurate information to the population of refugees," Mr. Vieira de Mello said at a press conference also attended by Xanana Gusmao, the President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) and Bishop Belo.
During their four-day visit, the journalists will meet with UN officials as well as representatives of the CNRT and the National Consultative Council, the territory's main decision-making body.
