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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stockholm Bomb Rips Olympic Hopes

Compiled From Wire Services

The fading hopes of Stockholm to hold the 2004 Olympics received a blow Friday when a bomb destroyed sections of the stadium left over from the Summer Games of 1912. No one was injured.

The predawn blast at the Olympic Stadium, where Jim Thorpe was crowned the world’s greatest athlete 85 years ago, was the latest in a series of seven sports facility attacks linked to the city’s Olympic bid.

The bombing took place the same day that Mayor Mats Hulth was showing several International Olympics Committee members around the city.

Sweden’s SVT television network reported that police “are convinced that the attack is directed against Sweden’s Olympic bid.”

Police spokesman Claes Cassel said investigators had no proof the bombing was connected to Olympics opponents. Anti-Olympics groups here have been vocal in opposing the return of the games to a country usually identified with peace and international understanding.

Former 2002 Olympics chief Tom Welch, whose proposed $2 million compensation package was widely condemned as too generous, asked organizers to pare a $1 million golden parachute from the deal.

It was not immediately clear, how much of the $2 million Welch actually was offering to give up.

Lameck Aguta, winner of this year’s Boston Marathon, was released from the hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, nearly a month after he was hurt in a car accident and then beaten unconscious by thieves.

Aguta’s brother, William Atati Okero, said Aguta has had memory lapses since regaining consciousness 10 days after the July 12 incident.