The two athletes and four officials who make up the tiny West African Republic's team have not shown up for pre-Games training in Adelaide and the Australian Olympic Committee has spent the past fortnight trying in vain to get through to Togo by phone, fax or email.
"It's a distinct possibility the Togo team won't make it," said the AOC's Olympic training co-ordinator for Adelaide, Clive Lee. "Communications are absolutely diabolical with some of these smaller countries in Africa - we have been trying for a fortnight to get through to Togo," Mr Lee said.
More than 200 African athletes have arrived in Adelaide, where Olympic officials and the state Government have provided training facilities and accommodation.
Teams from Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mali and Uganda are using local swimming pools and running tracks to prepare for the Games. They will move to Sydney early next month. The athletes had settled in "marvellously", Mr Lee said.
"The only problem is the cold, but they're turning up the heating. One of our drivers went into one of their hotel rooms and couldn't get past the door, it was so hot. "The other thing they're all doing is buying mobile phones because they're so cheap here. They just ring each other all day."
The 40-strong Cameroon team and Swaziland's 12 athletes had also not arrived, but had confirmed they were coming, Mr Lee said. The Nigerian judo squad had its first training session last night at Adelaide University, sparring with the university's rather nervous local squad.
Official sponsors 'ambushed' by smart marketing
In advertising circles they call it "ambush marketing" but in the boardrooms of Qantas and Adidas it's all about being smarter. Much to the annoyance of official sponsors Ansett and Nike, shrewd marketing by competitors Qantas and Adidas has resulted in the average Australian incorrectly naming the companies as official supporters of the Games.
A survey of 1,000 people living in capital cities found that Adidas ranked seventh and Qantas eighth among the top 10 most-recognised Olympic sponsors.
Official sponsor Ansett ranked third and Nike sixth, while communications giant Telstra topped the list ahead of equal second-place getters McDonald's. Westpac Bank came in fourth, Coca-Cola fifth, Visa ninth and Channel 7 10th.
Both Ansett and Qantas are enjoying the benefits of being associated with the Olympics, but only Ansett had to pay the huge sum to be a sponsor.
Qantas is always going to do one better than Ansett's because the company is a natural ambusher. They have the right positioning, being the Australian airline even their tagline, the Spirit of Australia, is in line with the Games's Share the Spirit."
Qantas, which had sponsored the Olympics for 40 years but ended its association after the Atlanta Games, has spent the interim signing up high-profile Olympic athletes, including Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe.
In recent weeks, giant billboards featuring the likes of Freeman under the Qantas logo and Spirit of Australia slogan have been going up around Sydney.
Similarly, Adidas has successfully aligned itself with the Games through sponsorship of Ian Thorpe and the controversial swimsuit that created headlines earlier in the year.
International Olympic Committee rules prohibit non-sponsors associating themselves with Olympics and Olympians during the Games. Qantas has assured the Australian Olympic Committee that its billboards will come down before the Sydney opening ceremony.
Ansett say they have met their objectives from the estimated $ (Australian) 50 million Olympic sponsorship, which they claims did not include public awareness.
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"It's a distinct possibility the Togo team won't make it," said the AOC's Olympic training co-ordinator for Adelaide, Clive Lee. "Communications are absolutely diabolical with some of these smaller countries in Africa - we have been trying for a fortnight to get through to Togo," Mr Lee said.
More than 200 African athletes have arrived in Adelaide, where Olympic officials and the state Government have provided training facilities and accommodation.
Teams from Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mali and Uganda are using local swimming pools and running tracks to prepare for the Games. They will move to Sydney early next month. The athletes had settled in "marvellously", Mr Lee said.
"The only problem is the cold, but they're turning up the heating. One of our drivers went into one of their hotel rooms and couldn't get past the door, it was so hot. "The other thing they're all doing is buying mobile phones because they're so cheap here. They just ring each other all day."
The 40-strong Cameroon team and Swaziland's 12 athletes had also not arrived, but had confirmed they were coming, Mr Lee said. The Nigerian judo squad had its first training session last night at Adelaide University, sparring with the university's rather nervous local squad.
Official sponsors 'ambushed' by smart marketing
In advertising circles they call it "ambush marketing" but in the boardrooms of Qantas and Adidas it's all about being smarter. Much to the annoyance of official sponsors Ansett and Nike, shrewd marketing by competitors Qantas and Adidas has resulted in the average Australian incorrectly naming the companies as official supporters of the Games.
A survey of 1,000 people living in capital cities found that Adidas ranked seventh and Qantas eighth among the top 10 most-recognised Olympic sponsors.
Official sponsor Ansett ranked third and Nike sixth, while communications giant Telstra topped the list ahead of equal second-place getters McDonald's. Westpac Bank came in fourth, Coca-Cola fifth, Visa ninth and Channel 7 10th.
Both Ansett and Qantas are enjoying the benefits of being associated with the Olympics, but only Ansett had to pay the huge sum to be a sponsor.
Qantas is always going to do one better than Ansett's because the company is a natural ambusher. They have the right positioning, being the Australian airline even their tagline, the Spirit of Australia, is in line with the Games's Share the Spirit."
Qantas, which had sponsored the Olympics for 40 years but ended its association after the Atlanta Games, has spent the interim signing up high-profile Olympic athletes, including Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe.
In recent weeks, giant billboards featuring the likes of Freeman under the Qantas logo and Spirit of Australia slogan have been going up around Sydney.
Similarly, Adidas has successfully aligned itself with the Games through sponsorship of Ian Thorpe and the controversial swimsuit that created headlines earlier in the year.
International Olympic Committee rules prohibit non-sponsors associating themselves with Olympics and Olympians during the Games. Qantas has assured the Australian Olympic Committee that its billboards will come down before the Sydney opening ceremony.
Ansett say they have met their objectives from the estimated $ (Australian) 50 million Olympic sponsorship, which they claims did not include public awareness.
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