Former Olympic wrestling medalist and Athletes Advisory
Council President Chris Campbell asked the USOC Board of
Directors for a "clean break between competition and
commercialism," according to Mike Spence in the Colorado
Springs GAZETTE TELEGRAPH. Campbell also "called on" the
USOC to enforce four principles to guard the athlete's right
to compete: neither the USOC nor a National Governing Body
can require an athlete to sign with a commercial sponsor as
a condition for participating in an event; neither the USOC
nor a NGB can force an athlete to sign a sponsorship deal
before the athlete has been selected for a specific team; no
athlete can be prevented from competing because he or she
violated a commercial agreement with the USOC or a NGB; and
athletes have exclusive choice of what performance-enhancing
equipment to use during competition, and can't be denied by
the USOC or NGB the right to compete based on what equipment
they use. USOC President Bill Hybl named two committees to
examine the matter (GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, 2/17).
MORE FROM PHILLY: USA TODAY's Janice Lloyd writes on
the USOC Board Meeting under the header, "USOC Makes Move
Toward Diversity" (USA TODAY, 2/17). In Hybl's nominations
for 355 positions on 20 committees, "athletes, women and
minorities all made significant inroads," with women reps
going up from 76 to 104, and minorities growing from 22 to
53 (Colorado Springs GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, 2/17).
