More shuffling within the Sydney Olympic organisation during the week, this time over the route for cycling's road race. The original course was changed last month when it was moved from the city's oceanside eastern suburbs to avoid cutting off Rupert Murdoch's Fox studios, where the next Star Wars prequel is due to start production next year.

The critics, however, soon moved in, including the International Cycling Union saying that the new course would not be testing enough. Others said that the organisers were bowing to the power of Murdoch - or perhaps the power of the force. Thankfully for both sides, the old course has been reinstated, but with a new start so that the Star Wars production will now be by-passed.

The continued hassle surrounding the organisation, however, has started to affect the usually over-eager Olympic sponsors. A poll conducted for the Australian newspaper found 14 per cent of Australians are less positive about sponsors than they were prior to the controversies and that 22 per cent of people felt less positive about the Olympics as a whole.