The city of Orlando agreed in writing Monday to set aside
$3M to cover any potential losses from hosting Olympic soccer
matches at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The agreement appears to end
a "long-running feud" between ACOG and the Florida Citrus Sports
Association. ACOG wanted control of the $3M, but Monday's
decision means the money will stay in Orlando and will not be
spent unless the games finish "in the red" (Dan Tracy, ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 10/10)....As expected, the USOC has eliminated the U.S.
Olympic Festival from the '97-2000 budget. The USOC plans to
replace the off-Olympic year event with a series of smaller
events featuring a fewer sports at a time, though there is no
definite plan (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/9)....More than a year
after the USOC went to Capitol Hill to say it would "gain more
control over athlete's behavior," the USOC still does not have a
code of conduct for its athletes. The USOC hopes to have a plan
in place by April, but may not until after the '96 Games
(WASHINGTON POST, 10/9). In addition, a plan that would require
all U.S. athletes to submit to random drug testing will not take
effect before the '96 Games in Atlanta. USOC Exec Dir Dick
Schultz said the plan needs more input from athletes before the
board can vote on it (WASHINGTON POST, 10/6)....The U.S. Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has scheduled
hearings for October 18 and November 6 to examine the USOC and
its operations (Joe Drape, ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/6)....NBC's
"Nightly News" profiled high tech training methods used at the
U.S. Olympic Training Center. Weightlifter Wes Barnett: "The
technology that we have here allows us to come as close to
perfect as we can." Mark Spitz's view: "A lot of this stuff is
esoteric. Some of these people spend so much time keeping score
they can't play the game" (NBC, 10/10).
