The names of USOC President Bill Hybl and FL-based
Int'l Softball Federation President Don Porter have been
submitted to an IOC committee reviewing potential new
members, according to USA TODAY's Vicki Michaelis, who notes
that the committee is scheduled to meet today at the IOC
headquarters in Switzerland. The only current U.S. IOC
members are Jim Easton and Anita DeFrantz. Michaelis writes
if Hybl or Porter "ultimately is elected, it would be a sign
that the USA is regaining some of the status it lost in the
international Olympics community because of the Salt Lake
City bid scandal" (USA TODAY, 7/18).
NOT WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: Meanwhile, former USOC
senior official Dr. Wade Exum, who served as the
organization's Dir of Drug Control Administration for nine
years before being dismissed June 5, has filed a lawsuit
against the USOC seeking compensation for "what he described
as wrongful termination, in part because he is black." In
N.Y., Michael Janofsky writes that Exum's allegations also
"paint a particularly harsh picture of a drug enforcement
system designed to do anything but enforce regulations"
(N.Y. TIMES, 7/18). In DC, Amy Shipley writes that Exum
alleges he was a "token minority" and was denied career
advancement based on race and "in retaliation for his
attempts to set up a bona fide doping control program."
USOC CEO Norm Blake responded to the suit in a statement
saying "Our cursory review suggests that the complaint is
without merit and statements previously made by Dr. Exum
remain substantially unsupported" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/18).
In UT, Christopher Smith writes the suit "has enough sleaze
and intrigue to fill a summer-page turner: drugs, racism,
homosexual voyeurism and a fiendish scheme to create a race
of superhuman gladiators" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 7/18).
OLYMPIC NOTES: The NATIONAL POST's Paul Gains profiled
sponsorship of the IOC, and quotes VP Dick Pound saying that
TOP sponsor John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance "is an
example of a sponsor that receives good value for its
involvement with the Olympics." Pound: "John Hancock used
their ticket allocation as an employee incentive to their
top sales performers. It more than paid for their
sponsorship through increased sales of their product"
(NATIONAL POST, 7/17)....IBM has launched IBM FanMail at
www.ibm.com, which allows users to send messages to the more
than 10,000 athletes competing at the 2000 Games and also
gives users a chance to view personal athlete Web pages
(IBM)....In Salt Lake City, Linda Fantin writes that SLOC
trustees "are considering whether to cover the legal fees"
for former Salt Lake bid committee execs Tom Welch and Dave
Johnson "in the event that they agree to a plea bargain with
the U.S. Department of Justice." The idea was raised during
a meeting of SLOC meeting Thursday by CEO Mitt Romney as a
"means to remove any possible impediment to a settlement by
the former bid leaders" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 7/18).
