COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Hoping to keep familiar faces in front of the folks considering Chicago as a site for the 2016 Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee wants to keep Peter Ueberroth involved with its board of directors through the selection process.
If the proposal is approved, Ueberroth would become a nonvoting, “ex officio” member of the board for two years when his term as chairman of the board expires in October.
A similar proposal would make Bob Ctvrtlik an officer of the organization as international vice president, a position that was created in 2006 to try to improve the USOC’s international reputation.
The International Olympic Committee will award the 2016 Olympics in October 2009. Chicago is one of seven candidates—a list that also includes Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Ueberroth is the most recognizable face in the American Olympic movement’s administration, widely credited with transforming the modern-day games from a troubled and red-ink-filled endeavor into what they are today—giant revenue producers and the biggest sporting event in the world.
The USOC is hoping to avoid losing the 70-year-old, a key architect of the Los Angeles Games in 1984, when his term is up.
“We have made a commitment to being a more active, engaged partner internationally, and an important aspect of that is continuity in leadership,” USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said.
The USOC board could vote on the proposals as early as its next meeting Wednesday, but there is no specific timetable for the vote.
Ctvrtlik, a former Olympic gold medalist in volleyball, oversaw the USOC’s domestic bid process. He has been the main contact between the USOC and the Chicago bid. But his term as a member of the IOC expires after the Beijing Olympics. Because his spot on the USOC board coincides with the IOC posting, the USOC needed to change its bylaws to keep him in the organization.
Ueberroth returned to the U.S. Olympic movement in 2004, when he was appointed as the first chairman of the USOC’s newly streamlined 11-person board of directors.
He appointed Jim Scherr as chief executive officer, led the move to double the amount of funding the USOC provides to athletes and began trying to improve the USOC’s international reputation after years of turmoil.
