What an interesting coincidence. A federal judge this week awarded defence lawyers for Tom Welch and Dave Johnson an extra six weeks to prepare for the Salt Lake City Olympic bribery trial in the US.

In doing so the judge appears to have dealt the International Olympic Committee something of a public relations blow. July 16th, the new trial date, is the day the organisation selects a new president in Moscow to follow on from Juan Antonio Samaranch, who has led the IOC for 21 years.

While the US Government named only 15 IOC members who received gratuities in the indictment of Welch and Johnson, their lawyers are compiling a list of 75 or more members who routinely violated the gift limit. What's the chance of the next president being one of them.