Samaranch dashes to wife's sickbed

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch was forced to leave the Sydney Olympics and return home to Spain on Saturday because his wife is ill, IOC officials said.

"His wife has been sick lately and he is concerned," IOC director general Francois Carrard said.

Samaranch's duties at the Games will be taken over by vice-president Dick Pound.

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