September 1, 2004

Czech hockey coach Ivan Hlinka died on August 16th, after a car accident in the Czech Republic.

Hlinka guided the Czech Republic to the Ice Hockey gold medal at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, and later became coach of the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguin coach prior to Hlinka was Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 Olympic gold medal ice hockey team, who died in a car accident during the summer of 2003.

May 13, 2004

Tampere, Finland and Liberec, Czech Republic have announced bids for the 2009 European Youth Olympic Festivals.

Tampere will bid for the summer games, Liberec the winter edition, the final decision is to be announced in Dubrovnik in December. Greece had mentioned a possible 2009 bid, but was not included in the announcement made during the European Olympic Committees Seminar for Secretaries General and Chefs de Mission in Belgrade.

The next Summer European Youth Olympic Festivals are scheduled to be held in Lignano, Italy in 2005 and Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro in 2007. The winter editions are scheduled for Monthey, Switzerland in 2005 and Jaca, Spain in 2007.