THE International Olympic Committee yesterday cancelled plans for the re-inauguration ceremony of the war-ravaged Zetra arena where Torvill and Dean Bolero-ed to Olympic gold.
The IOC said it had put off the skating gala in the light of ''the current political situation in the region''.
Next door is Sarajevo's Kosovo stadium, scene of the opening ceremony for the 1984 Winter Olympics, at which the British ice dance pair won the title.
The Kosovo stadium, the track on which athletes were shot by snipers as they tried to train during fighting in the Bosnian capital, and the Zetra Olympic Hall, were rebuilt with international money.
The athletics track was re-opened in September 1996, with armed guards on roof tops for the arrival of world and Olympic champions in the first sports event since what has proved a temporary cessation of hostilities.
Many in a capacity 50,000 crowd, overcome by a return to a semblance of normal life, wept as the athletes filed out for the heavily-guarded bus run through the city's Sniper Alley, to the airport.
Since then, the Zetra has been rebuilt with #8.3m in grants from the IOC, sports bodies, and governments.
Meanwhile, European soccer's ruling body UEFA said it had postponed the European championship qualifying matches between Macedonia and the Republic of Ireland, and Yugoslavia and Croatia on Saturday, and Yugoslavia and Macedonia next Wednesday.
UEFA said Yugoslavia's group eight match with Croatia would now provisionally take place on August 18, and the game against Macedonia on September 4, with the Republic of Ireland's postponed fixture likely to be on October 9.
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