Usoc

A U.S. Olympic Committee panel probing bribery allegations will hold its first meeting today in Washington, D.C. The special commission will examine the methods used by Salt Lake bid committee officials to obtain the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. Officials from the 2002 Winter Games organizing committee will not be in attendance. No agenda for the meeting has been released, but it probably will involve planning and scheduling for the commission's actions over the coming weeks.

Robert Helmick, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, will discuss with the USOC's executive board tomorrow reports that he worked as a paid consultant to several sports companies with at least indirect ties to the Olympic movement. Helmick, an attorney from Des Moines, admitted to USA Today that he has represented clients who do business with either the USOC or Olympic sports, but said those dealings have presented no conflicts of interest. USA Today reported yesterday that Helmick received at least $127,000 from those dealings in 1990.

Robert Helmick, a former U.S. Olympic Committee president who resigned amid conflict-of-interest allegations, died yesterday at 66. Helmick died of cardiac failure at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, spokeswoman Angie Fagervik-Chia said. He had a stroke last weekend, law partner David Claypool said. Helmick, a Des Moines lawyer, was USOC president from 1985 to 1991. He resigned as USOC president and as an IOC member in 1991 after he was accused of using his position for personal gain.

The top leadership of the U.S. Olympic Committee urged USOC president Marty Mankamyer to resign yesterday, blaming her for infighting within the organization. The turmoil that has consumed the USOC and attracted the attention of Congress escalated once again when all five USOC vice presidents and two other top officials said Mankamyer should quit. In the process, they also revealed that Mankamyer was privately asked to resign last week and promised that she would. However, the officials said Mankamyer reneged and hasn't returned their phone calls since.

The U.S. Olympic Committee plans an independent investigation of Lloyd Ward following the resignation of five members angered by his exoneration on ethics charges. The investigation comes amid a report in the Los Angeles Times yesterday that the U.S. Justice Department plans to send officials to the Dominican Republic to investigate a deal between the 2003 Pan American Games and a company with ties to Ward's brother. Justice Department spokeswoman Monica Goodling declined comment to the Associated Press on the reported investigation.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will be in New York City starting today to evaluate sites for the city's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Members of the USOC will stay three days and visit Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and other potential sites, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said yesterday. "It would be wonderful for the spirit of the city," Giuliani said. "It would be a wonderful thing for the city to build toward and to show its renaissance and how it's changed. But it would also be wonderful for the Olympics because you could not be in a place that could give the Olympics more attention.

Lloyd Ward will remain head of the U.S. Olympic Committee despite trying to steer Pan Am Games business to a company with ties to his brother. The 23-member USOC executive committee reprimanded Ward yesterday, saying he "created the appearance of a conflict of interest. " "Lloyd's job was not in danger at any point," USOC vice president Bill Stapleton said. "This group of people understands that he committed an error in judgment and that is to be dealt with in a process that any other executive would have to go through.

Jim Scherr resigned as chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee yesterday, an awkwardly timed move that comes with the federation's attempting to climb out of a financial hole while bidding to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Scherr will be replaced on an interim basis by Stephanie Streeter, a member of the USOC board of directors. Al Michaels is returning to the event for which he made his iconic call. The announcer will serve as a host for NBC's coverage of next year's Winter Olympics from Vancouver, the 30th anniversary of his call of the "Miracle on Ice. " Michaels famously exclaimed, "Do you believe in miracles?

When she ran for president of U.S. Swimming in 1984, Sandra Baldwin encountered a powerful foe - Bill Lippman, widely known as the father of the sport in America. "He told me he didn't think swimming was ready for a woman president," Baldwin recalled. "I told him, 'Maybe not, Bill, but they're ready for me.' " Yesterday, 16 years after Baldwin unanimously won that election to become the first female president of any widely based American sport, the U.S. Olympic Committee decided it finally was ready for a woman as leader, too, and that Baldwin once again was the one to choose.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has turned to Scott Blackmun, a former interim leader for the organization, to become its third chief executive officer in the past 10 months, the Associated Press has learned. Two people familiar with the search said yesterday that Blackmun would be announced as the CEO today. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public. Blackmun will replace Stephanie Streeter, who took over when Jim Scherr was ousted in March.

COULD Philadelphia host the 2024 Olympics? Mayor Nutter sent a letter to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Monday confirming the city has an interest in bidding on the Olympic games. "The city of Philadelphia shares the USOC's dedication to building a spectacular experience for Olympic athletes, the Olympic family and the watching world," Nutter said in a statement. "We have had great success partnering with other organizations to host world-class events, and we are committed to working cooperatively and effectively under the direction of the USOC in the months - and hopefully - years ahead.

Will Olympians scull on the Schuylkill, spike beach volleyballs in Wildwood, pole vault in Fairmount Park? Mayor Nutter would like to think so. On Monday, he told the U.S. Olympic Committee in a letter that the Philadelphia region is "enthusiastically" embracing the prospect of bidding on and hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2024. "I am honored to confirm our wholehearted commitment and interest in working with the USOC to bid on the 2024 Games," Nutter wrote to Scott Blackmun, chief executive of the committee in Colorado Springs.

Seven years ago, Philadelphia was among five U.S. cities seeking to qualify to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, but it failed to make it to the medal round. The U.S. Olympic Committee wants to know if the city is ready to get back in the game. Letters went out this week to gauge interest for 2024 among the nation's 25 largest cities - including Philadelphia - and 10 others, the USOC said. Mark McDonald, Mayor Nutter's spokesman, was noncommittal Wednesday about whether the city would apply, but he spoke enthusiastically about what an honor it would be to host the Games.

WHAT WERE they thinking? Is the U.S. Olympic Committee, and conspirator Ralph Lauren, so clueless of American consciousness that they didn't know producing USOC-authorized gear in China would be a gut-punch to most Americans? When it was learned the "Made in China" label would be found in the Team USA apparel in the opening and closing ceremonies, it even awakened the dwarfs in Congress, creating a rare bipartisan moment when zany opposites such as Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner would blast away at the same target.

Dancers were performing during breaks in the action. Dunks were greeted with "MVP!" chants. Mascots, merchandise giveaways, and hot dog stands had the feel of an NBA arena, not the U.S. Olympic men's team's workout. Of course this was no game. As Allen Iverson would say: We talkin' about practice. The U.S. Olympic basketball team went through an open practice for military personnel and families at the D.C. Armory that felt more like Midnight Madness on a college campus than a team getting ready to defend gold.

IN A CONTEST over a humble lunch counter in Reading Terminal Market, the U.S. Olympic Committee won't win a gold medal for sprinting. Three decades after it burst from the starting block, the Greek eatery Olympic Gyro has received a cease-and-desist email from the USOC, the nonprofit corporation responsible for training and funding U.S. teams. The June 7 notice demanded deletion of the word "Olympic" from the food shop's title, claiming copyright of the word under a 1978 law. Congress granted the USOC all commercial use of Olympic imagery and terminology in the nation, including the word "Olympic" and the symbol of five interlocked rings.

LeRoy Walker, 93, the first African American president of the U.S. Olympic Committee who attended the Penn Relays for six decades as a coach and referee, died Monday in Durham, N.C. Dr. Walker spent more than 40 years at North Carolina Central, first as track coach and later as chancellor. During his career, he coached eight Olympians who won a total of 11 medals, including back-to-back golds by hurdler Lee Calhoun in 1956 and 1960. Dr. Walker became the first African American coach of the U.S. Olympic men's track and field team in 1976 and led the squad to 22 medals, including six gold.

This time around, the United States is saying no to the Olympics. Locked in a dispute over millions of dollars, the U.S. Olympic Committee pulled the plug Monday on a bid for the 2020 Summer Games before the International Olympic Committee could say no to the Americans, as it has the last two times. The two sides have been at odds over revenue sharing. By not submitting a bid, the USOC assures at least a 20-year gap between Olympics on American soil for only the fourth time. Tokyo, Madrid, Istanbul, and Rome are the perceived favorites to host the 2020 summer games.

Bob Paul Jr., one of the founding fathers of the Big 5, passed away on Saturday at the age of 93. Paul was the director of sports information at Penn from 1953-61 when, according to Ed Fabricius who succeeded him in that position, he and Penn athletic director John Rossiter laid down the plans for a basketball league for the city's five major colleges. "They didn't call it the Big 5, [Inquirer writer] Herb Good did that, but they put it in motion," Fabricius said. Paul went from Penn to work for the Amateur Athletic Union in New York for 2 years, then joined the United States Olympic Committee as its director of information and later special assistant to the executive director.

Two longtime swimming officials claim they lost prestigious positions for speaking out against the way the sport's governing body handled sexual abuse cases, and they have gone to the U.S. Olympic Committee seeking to be reinstated. Mike Saltzstein alleges he was dropped from a list of judges for major international meets because he sent a letter to USA Swimming recommending it take tough steps to deal with at least four lawsuits and other allegations of improper contact between coaches and young swimmers.