International Capsules: 100 days from Vancouver, USOC looks for a leader

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee are going through the kind of year that won’t look good on their resumes.

They’re taking the blame for Chicago’s failed, $70 million run at hosting the 2016 Summer Games — a bid that sent President Barack Obama on an unsuccessful trip to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago’s effort. Back in Colorado Springs, insiders point to a revolving door of executives to show that the USOC has gone from a relatively smooth-running operation to a dysfunctional mess.

With the Vancouver Olympics only 100 days away as of Wednesday, the search is on for a new boss, who will need more than 100 days to fix what’s wrong at the USOC. That CEO will replace Stephanie Streeter, who is winding down a tenure that began in turmoil in March and never found its stride despite her best intentions.

Her replacement could make $1 million a year or more — and will earn every penny for what some view as a full-fledged rehabilitation project.

"The USOC’s international standing is not only abysmally low, but now engulfed in crisis," said Michael Lenard, a 1984 Olympian in team handball who has played an active role on the domestic and international Olympic scene for 25 years.

At the new CEO’s command will be a staff of 375 and a budget of about $180 million a year, 85 percent of which will go toward Olympic sports organizations and their athletes. About 700 of those athletes will become part of Team USA at the Olympics over the next four years.

It is the richest, largest Olympic organization in the world, a committee whose success or failure drives TV and advertising revenue for both the Winter and Summer Games, which in turn can make or break the global Olympic movement. But wealth has brought resentment from Olympic committees in other countries.

"Our role in the world can’t be made by our economic might anymore," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics chairman, whose company will pay $2.2 billion to televise the 2010 and 2012 Olympics. "It has to be made by very trained, experienced people who’ve proven they’re diplomats and who the rest of the world wants to know."

Twelve months ago, the USOC had a couple of those — chairman Peter Ueberroth and CEO Jim Scherr — and was holding steady, maybe even pointed on an upward track, with a relatively content core of constituents and some momentum behind the attempt to lure the Olympics to America.

Then things unraveled. It may have started in a convention room at the Hilton near Downtown Disney in Orlando last October.

That’s where Ueberroth gave his going-away speech, his last presentation as chairman before his term expired and he took an honorary, nonvoting position on the board.

Tired of listening to International Olympic Committee members complain about the USOC in the bitter debate about revenue sharing — who should get what from the large pool of Olympic money, the majority of which is supplied by American companies — Ueberroth came out swinging.

"Who pays the bill for the world Olympic movement?" Ueberroth said. "Make no mistake about it. Starting in 1988, U.S. corporations have paid 60 percent of all the money, period. Be sure you all understand that. The rest of the world pays 40 percent. It’s pretty simple math."

The speech inflamed one of the prickliest points of contention between the USOC and IOC, groups that do not get along well on many issues to begin with.

American Olympic leaders "seem to live on a kind of island without really considering that they are part of a more global world," said IOC executive board member Denis Oswald of Switzerland. "This has been their attitude, ignoring a bit the rest of the world. Certainly this was felt as a kind of arrogance by the rest of the members."

Twelve months later, not even Obama and his wife, Michelle, could save the Chicago bid. The president’s last-minute trip to the decisive IOC meeting in Copenhagen didn’t prevent Chicago from finishing last in the opening round of voting. Many saw the 2016 vote as an example of how out of touch America’s Olympic leaders have become: If the USOC leaders understood how poorly they were perceived, would they really have wanted Obama to deliver a speech to the IOC in favor of Chicago?

"We have squandered our opportunities over the last decade to take farsighted leadership positions on initiatives that would be important to many national Olympic committees," Lenard said. "Instead, we have steadfastly maintained our ‘U.S. exceptionalism."’

It isn’t only the USOC’s international stature that needs repair.

On the domestic front, Ueberroth’s departure opened the door for another chain reaction.

He had been a strong ruler over a mostly passive board. Replacing him was the longtime executive at video game maker EA Sports, Larry Probst, who had no Olympic background. His ear was quickly captured by influential people who were unhappy with Scherr’s performance, including some of his personnel decisions and ideas for resolving a budget crunch.

In the meantime, Streeter was gathering support to be the new CEO, a deal many in the organization believe came about because she was passed over for the chairman’s spot.

Streeter got the job in March. Back at the Colorado Springs headquarters, her rise added to tension that had been slowly simmering since the Beijing Games ended:

— Steve Roush, the chief of sport performance, was unexpectedly eased out despite being the key architect of America’s 110-medal performance in Beijing. There also was turnover at the top of the marketing department, where Lisa Baird took over for Rick Burton and opened an office in New York City, a move unpopular in some corners because it was perceived as dividing the department and taking jobs away from Colorado Springs.

— Unity inside the USOC communications department fell apart. Communications chief Darryl Seibel resigned after getting off to a terrible start with Streeter. A woman supervised by Seibel filed a sexual harassment complaint against him that was resolved with Seibel receiving a warning; he says it had no role in his departure. More recently, Seibel’s replacement had been all but hired, but had a late change of heart and decided not to take the job, leading the USOC to hire Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky on an acting basis.

— Prodded by Ueberroth, chief operating officer Norman Bellingham tried to start a USOC TV network, but negotiations with potential partners NBC and Universal Sports were tense. Those talks cratered and a deal with Comcast was announced, but the USOC was embarrassed when it had to back off because of negative reaction from NBC and the IOC, which saw the USOC as directly competing with them.

— The specter of job cuts at the USOC headquarters loomed, as did the possibility of moving the offices out of Colorado Springs. The headquarters issue was eventually ironed out when the city agreed to fund $16 million in improvements to the Olympic Training Center, as part of a $53 million deal that also includes a new headquarters for the USOC. But staff cuts of 13 percent were made — and morale dipped further with news of Streeter’s $560,000 base salary, 30 percent more than Scherr.

Whether Streeter was worth the money is a topic of intense debate inside Olympic circles, and those willing to speak up have been critical.

On the same day she announced last month that she would not seek the CEO’s job on a permanent basis, a group of leaders of America’s Olympic sports answered "No," by a 40-0 vote, to the question in a survey, "Do you believe the acting CEO has the ability to be an effective leader of the Olympic movement?"

It was a referendum not only on her job performance, but on the state of the USOC. Now, with 100 days until the torch is lighted in Vancouver, the USOC has no idea who its leader will be when the Winter Games start.

"We are still conducting business in a parochial, provincial way, and I think that when it comes time to compete politically on a global basis we are powerless," Doug Logan, CEO of USA Track and Field, said in a recent interview. "We don’t know what to do or how to do it."

A few things to look for at Vancouver Olympics

You’re up on Apolo, Lindsey and Bode the (reformed) Bad Boy. Rocks and brooms make you think curling, not stickball. And you know the lucky loonie is cash, not crazy talk.

There’s plenty more to the Vancouver Olympics, though, what with hundreds of athletes competing in 15 sports over 17 days, and your prep time is running out. In honor of the 100-day countdown that starts Wednesday, here are 10 suggestions for other people, places and events to watch for:

COMEBACK KIDS

Forget quadruple jumps, judging systems and bad costumes. Figure skating’s big thing for Vancouver is the comeback. Reigning Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, women’s silver medalist Sasha Cohen, men’s silver medalist Stephane Lambiel and bronze pairs medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo are all giving it another try after taking time off in the last three years.

Comeback efforts have had mixed results in the past — Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov won their second pairs gold in ‘94, but Katarina Witt and Brian Boitano failed to crack the top five. If early results are any guide, the veterans can’t be overlooked. Plushenko and Shen and Zhao both won their first international competitions handily, and Lambiel looked sharp in a lower-tier event. Cohen makes her return later this month.

PECHSTEIN ON ICE

Speedskater Claudia Pechstein is Germany’s most successful Winter Olympian with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes. After winning her third European title last season, Pechstein would seem to be a medal threat again in Vancouver — if she gets there.

Pechstein is awaiting a decision later this month from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on her appeal of a two-year doping ban. Despite never failing a drug test, she was banned by the International Skating Union in July because of abnormal levels in her blood samples from the World Allround Championships last February. The samples were compared with others she has given since 2000.

If CAS overturns her suspension, Pechstein has said she plans to compete in Vancouver. She’s won a gold medal at each of the last four Olympics.

SNOW LEOPARD SIGHTING?

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong could wind up being Vancouver’s version of Eddie the Eagle or the Jamaican bobsled team.

The alpine skier is from Ghana, not exactly a winter sports hotbed. He’s only been skiing for about five years and does most of his training at an indoor ski hill about an hour north of London. Yet Nkrumah-Acheampong, who is nicknamed "The Snow Leopard" and skis in a leopard-print racing suit, is on the verge of becoming Ghana’s first Winter Olympian.

To qualify for Vancouver, skiers must be at 140 points or below on the final International Ski Federation list, to be published Jan. 25, 2010. After falling short for the Turin Games four years ago, Nkrumah-Acheampong finally got below that magic number in the slalom last spring and is holding steady with 137.52 points.

WHAT’S NEW?

Ski cross will make its Olympic debut in Vancouver.

Similar to snowboard cross, which was wildly popular in its debut at the Turin Games, ski cross is a rough-and-tumble event featuring a mass start and head-to-head racing on a course with turns, traverses, banks, rolls and ridges. First one to the finish line wins.

Most ski cross athletes have alpine backgrounds. The latest — and perhaps most famous — to make the switch is Daron Rahlves, who won 12 times on the alpine World Cup circuit but is still seeking his first Olympic medal. Rahlves won the 2008 Winter X Games title in ski cross.

The men’s ski cross event will be held Feb. 21, the women’s two days later. There are five rounds of races, including a qualification run.

THE FAVORITES

Scan the Olympic biathlon results and a trend quickly emerges.

Russia, Germany and Norway have dominated the competition in the sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Of the 53 gold medals awarded since the first biathlon event was held in 1960, athletes from Russia (or the former Soviet Union), Germany and Norway have won all but eight.

Of course, Norway’s results are a bit skewed by Ole Einar Bjorndalen, arguably the greatest biathlete ever. He has five golds, including a clean sweep at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, and will be looking for more in Vancouver.

NO, CANADA

Had things worked out differently, Debbie McCormick might be the skip of Team Canada.

The skip, or captain, of the U.S. women’s curling team was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. But her family moved to Madison, Wis., when she was 3 after her father was transferred, and she got her start a few years later at the Madison Curling Club.

McCormick and her father, Wally Henry, are both still members of the Madison Curling Club. Henry will coach the Americans in Vancouver.

Curling is one of Canada’s most popular sports, and McCormick’s background could make the Americans a fan favorite. (As long as they’re not playing Canada, that is.) When the world championships were in Alberta three years ago, Team McCormick was adopted by the pro-Canadian crowds.

This will be McCormick’s third Olympics. She was part of U.S. teams that finished fifth in 1998, when curling made its debut, and fourth in 2002.

GOTCHA!

Would-be cheaters, beware.

About 2,000 urine and blood samples will be tested during the Vancouver Games, almost double the number from Turin four years ago. The 14,530-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is a replica of the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Montreal.

And in what Vancouver officials believe is a first, the lab is located at the speedskating oval in Richmond.

"We cannot say pure sport, pure games," lab director Dr. Christiane Ayotte said last month. "I’m 100 percent confident that nobody can do better than what we are doing now, what we will be doing."

CANDID CAMERA

Aksel Lund Svindal can do more than ski.

The defending overall World Cup champion and three of his Norwegian teammates, including fellow "Attacking Vikings" Lars Elton Myhre and Kjetil Jansrud, did an impressive rendition of Michael Jackson’s "Beat It" video earlier this fall. In ski boots, no less.

The video, filmed in September on a mountaintop in Chile, has become a hit on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7D6lsvtdXY

ON THE ROAD

If you’re going to Whistler, allow plenty of time. And consider letting someone else drive.

Vancouver and Whistler are just 90 miles apart, but the Sea-to-Sky is the only direct highway connecting them and the trip could take up to 3 hours. The highway has undergone a major expansion and improvement project, but there’s only so much you can do with a road that, in many places, has the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.

Snow or fog could cause additional delays.

Vancouver officials are strongly recommending that fans with tickets take the Olympic bus network. (There’s little public parking around the Whistler venues, and permits will be required for certain sections of the highway during peak travel times.)

Whistler is the site of the alpine and sliding events, cross country, biathlon and ski jumping.

A BONUS

Can’t get enough of those cute and cuddly Olympic mascots? Have the Vancouver folks got something for you. The adorable Mukmuk, a tiny, roly-poly Vancouver Island marmot, is being billed as a "sidekick" to the three official Vancouver mascots, Miga, Quatchi and Sumi.

-- Nancy Armour

Final tickets for Vancouver Games to go on sale

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The final round of ticket sales for the 2010 Winter Olympics begins Saturday.

There are more than 100,000 tickets available for events in Vancouver, such as curling and hockey. They include seats to gold-medal games.

The tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis through the Olympic committee’s Web site.

Organizers are also putting the final touches on their ticket resale Web site, which they expect to launch to help people sell tickets they can’t use.

Olympic flame to shine in northern Canada

WHITEHORSE, Yukon Territory — The Olympic flame is about to light up Canada’s North.

The torch relay for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics arrives in Whitehorse of the Yukon Territory on Tuesday. It’s the first of more than a dozen communities in the northern territories that will host the flame over the next week.

The torch will swing through the northern edges of the Prairies and travel to northern Quebec.

Celebrations along the way will highlight the region’s First Nations and Inuit traditions. The torch will travel by dogsled and Inuit kayak during that leg of the journey.

Queen visits London 2012 Olympic Park site

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II visited the Olympic Park on Tuesday to inspect preparations for the 2012 London Games.

The queen toured the site in east London for the second time since the British capital was awarded the Olympics in 2005.

Elizabeth viewed the main Olympic Stadium and walked along a section of the 100-meter track area. She was accompanied by Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion who heads London’s organizing committee.

"We are thrilled to welcome Her Majesty back to show the progress we’ve made," Coe said. "The skyline in this part of London is being changed forever and the Olympic Park will become a home to world class sport in 2012 and home to a new community afterwards."

The queen got a look at where the royal box will be located in the 80,000-capacity stadium. She also planted the first of 4,000 trees to be put on the park site.

"Planting the tree today is the first step in the creation of a new green space that will reflect the traditions of great British parks and will create a fantastic backdrop for the games," Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt said.

Elizabeth is expected to open the Olympics in 2012 when she will be celebrating her 60th year as queen.

The visit came three days after London marked the 1,000-day countdown until London’s 2012 opening ceremony.

The 1-square-mile Olympic Park also includes the velodrome, aquatics center, basketball arena and main media center. It is next to the athletes’ village.

The visit comes amid debate over whether the site should be named Elizabeth Park after the queen. The British Olympic Association wants to keep Olympic in the name.

The queen first visited the park site in Oct. 2005, 100 days after London won the right to host the games.

Sailing

America’s Cup trimaran dismasts on Pacific Ocean

SAN DIEGO — The 200-foot mast on the monster trimaran that will represent the United States in the America’s Cup came crashing down during a sail on the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, snapping in two as it hit the rear beam.

None of the crew were injured in the mishap, which happened some 20 to 30 miles off Point Loma, BMW Oracle Racing helmsman Jimmy Spithill said after the 90-by-90-foot boat was towed back to its downtown berth at dusk.

"We’re obviously pretty fortunate," Spithill said. "The boat itself, the actual platform, is in relatively good shape. The most important thing is getting back on shore with all the guys, and the crew safe."

BMW Oracle Racing, owned by software tycoon Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., is scheduled to face two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in a best-of-three showdown beginning Feb. 8.

The American syndicate has two other masts. The one that broke Tuesday is believed to have cost $10 million. A tender towed the biggest section, about 150 feet, back to port. There’s a chance the mast can be repaired.

Spithill said the boat was on starboard tack when the carbon-fiber mast fell across the aft beam.

"It happened so quick. It obviously was very, very violent, quite a big shock when it went," Spithill said. "But really, everyone was calm. The support crew acted well and were able to get things all under control."

Spithill said he wasn’t sure when the boat will be back in the water. He said the syndicate will look at on-board video and load data to figure out why the mast came down.

Spithill doesn’t think it will be more than a temporary setback. The shore crew began working on the boat as soon as it was back in its berth.

"Obviously we’ve got to re-look at the program, but I think we’re a strong team," Spithill said. "It’ll be a real test for the team but I’ve got an idea we’ll be able to bounce back and be ready in February."

The spar is under tremendous loads as it supports a mainsail that’s twice as big as a Boeing 747’s wing and a headsail that’s not quite that large.

One possibility is that the bowsprit failed, causing the forward support to fail and leading to the mast falling backward.

BMW Oracle Racing has been testing the trimaran, known as BOR 90 and soon to be renamed USA, since last fall.

The space age-looking craft was relaunched last week after undergoing significant modifications to its main hull. The changes included the installation of a BMW diesel engine to run a hydraulic system that will be used to trim the sails and perhaps move water ballast from one hull to another.

Wind and sea conditions were light to moderate and there was some fog.

The crew has been careful testing the trimaran, which will square off against Alinghi’s equally big catamaran, Alinghi 5.

Capable of sailing at 2 to 2½ times the speed of the wind, they are the fastest, most-extreme boats built in the 158-year history of the America’s Cup. Spithill said last week that his crew has sailed in the 40-knot range on the big boat.

In Race 4 of the 2003 America’s Cup, Team New Zealand’s 110-foot mast snapped in two and tumbled into the Hauraki Gulf moments after the 80-foot sloop buried its bow into two successive waves. Three sailors were knocked overboard, but they clung to the wrecked rigging and were pulled back on board.

Alinghi went on to a five-race sweep, then successfully defended its title against the Kiwis in 2007.

BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi have been locked in a bitter, two-year court fight over rules and the venue.

Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court sided with BMW Oracle Racing last week and ruled that Alinghi’s choice of Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, wasn’t eligible to host the America’s Cup based on stipulations in the 1887 Deed of Gift that governs the racing.

The showdown likely will be held in Valencia, Spain, although the Swiss have appealed Kornreich’s ruling.

-- Bernie Wilson

Hockey

U.S. hockey roster will be announced Jan. 1

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The members of the U.S. Olympic hockey team will be announced during the broadcast of the NHL’s Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

The 23-man squad will be led by Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson. Its first game is scheduled for Feb. 16 against Switzerland in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Boston Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park in this season’s Winter Classic.

Handball

Coach runs on court to stop opponent

VIENNA — This is the city that gave the world Sigmund Freud. But did he ever explore mayhem on a handball court?

The coach of an Austrian women’s handball team has resigned after going onto the court to prevent a score during a game last week.

Gunnar Prokop, the coach of Hypo Niederoesterreich, says he "will go through this with a psychiatrist. ... I still can’t understand why I’ve done this."

Prokop went onto the court four seconds before the end of Thursday’s Champions League match. He intentionally collided with an opposing player to stop a counterattack and deny Metz a chance to score. The match ended in a 27-27 draw.

Handball’s European governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against Prokop. A ruling is expected before his team’s match against Krim Ljubljana on Sunday.

Cycling

Floyd Landis 35th after 3rd stage in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Floyd Landis was 35th after the third stage of the Tour of Southland in New Zealand.

He was 3 minutes, 16 seconds behind overall leader Heath Lovegrove after the 102-mile stage on Tuesday.

Landis won the 2006 Tour de France but was disqualified and suspended for two years after doping tests showed elevated levels of testosterone. He returned to competition in January’s Tour of California.

Landis rides for the New Zealand-based Cyclingnzshop.com-Bio Sport team.

Swimming

Injured Biedermann’s showdown with Phelps in doubt

FRANKFURT — German swimmer Paul Biedermann has a thigh injury that could prevent him from facing Michael Phelps this month.

The short-course World Cup competition is Nov. 14-15 in Berlin. Biedermann beat Phelps in the 200-meter freestyle at the world championships in Rome in July.

Germany coach Dirk Lange says Biedermann is trying to get in shape for the showdown with the Olympic great in Berlin. Biedermann already has ruled himself out of next week’s meet in Stockholm.

Softball

2010 softball worlds pull out of Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY — The International Softball Federation is seeking a new site for the world championships next year.

The group’s president, Don Porter, announced Tuesday that the championships scheduled for next July in Oklahoma City would be moved to a different date and country due to a conflict with an international tournament held in Puerto Rico.

Amateur Softball Association executive director Ron Radigonda says Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City doesn’t have other open dates to host the tournament. The site also hosts the Women’s College World Series and other tournaments throughout the year.

Jakarta, Indonesia, was the only other site to submit a bid for the world championships, which were awarded to Oklahoma City in October.