Olympic world turns with ever less American influence
TURIN -- The Olympics no longer want any part of baseball, the American pastime. Or softball, an American institution.
So both will be dropped from the Summer Games, with United States Olympic officials as powerless to save their signature sports as they were to spare New York City from early elimination last year in the high-stakes bidding for the 2012 Summer Games.
It has come to this: America's influence in the Olympic movement has so diminished, US officials acknowledge, that the nation may not bid to host another Summer or Winter Games for many years to come.
The torch has passed. In a power shift with major economic and cultural implications, America has lost its grip on the international Olympic community to a powerful European coalition, leaving a once-dominant nation -- whose multibillion-dollar television package and massive corporate commitment continue to sustain the Games -- all but helpless to control them.
US Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth maintains that American involvement is crucial for both the US and the Olympics.
''We are committed to becoming a more effective partner in the international sports movement," Ueberroth said. ''We believe this is important not only in terms of representing US interests, but also to contribute to the growth of Olympic sport worldwide."
Ueberroth, who organized the successful 1984 Los Angeles Games after the disastrous American boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow, has launched a campaign to restore America's stature. But even his top allies acknowledged the process could take years, if not decades.
''Developing a stronger international presence is not something that happens overnight," Ueberroth said. ''But it is a priority for the USOC."
Tainted by the over-commercialization of the 1996 Atlanta Games, the IOC scandal involving the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, and turmoil within its own ranks, the US committee's status has been further weakened by its inability to master effective international relations.
Ueberroth ''has got a rough road ahead of him because of the political side of it," said Don E. Porter, president of the International Softball Federation. ''We need to find more friends in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and we need to get help from the corporations and NBC, who are fueling the Olympics."
But longtime USOC supporters said the committee dug its own hole and should expect few nations or businesses to rush to its aid.
''I don't think the Europeans or anyone else has gone out of their way to hurt the United States," said David D'Alessandro, former chairman and CEO of
Porter epitomizes the enormity of America's challenge. Of the 34 global federations that govern Olympic sports and wield enormous influence with the International Olympic Committee, only one is led by an American: Porter's softball federation. The international baseball federation is chaired by an engineer from Italy, the basketball federation by a Hong Kong business executive.
What's more, America no longer is represented on the IOC's 15-member executive board after the senior US delegate, Anita DeFrantz, stepped down earlier this month and James L. Easton, the former president of the International Archery Federation, lost his bid to replace her. Only three of 115 IOC delegates are Americans (53 are Europeans), and Ueberroth himself has no official role with the movement's governing body.
America lost its ex-officio seat on the IOC when then-president Sandy Baldwin resigned in 2002 after admitting she embellished her academic credentials.
''The United States really has not made a strong effort to become a player in the international arena," Porter said. ''Its influence has steadily gone down, and now the dominance of the Olympic movement is in the hands of Europe."
Baldwin's impropriety unfolded during a tumultuous period from 2000 to 2003 in which six presidents and chief executives came and went at USOC, weakening the committee's international standing. The upheaval was preceded by allegations that organizers in Salt Lake City had bribed IOC officials to back their bid for the 2002 Games, which mushroomed into a humiliating corruption case for the IOC.
Every IOC president since 1980, including the current leader, Jacques Rogge of Belgium, has been European.
''When you have two major sets of follies like that, you naturally have a diminished image and diminished influence," D'Alessandro said of the US. ''Why wouldn't we be having trouble?"
DeFrantz, a two-time Olympian who won bronze in rowing at Montreal in 1976, said America remains a powerful force in the international community because of the excellence of its athletes and its hosting more Olympiads in the last 26 years -- Lake Placid in 1980, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City -- than any other country.
''Of course, we would like to have more people on the executive board," she said, ''but we're still the most important committee in the Olympic movement."
New York's defeat in the 2012 sweepstakes, however, dealt US officials a crucial blow in their attempt to enhance their clout. Host cities automatically gain more influence by becoming financial partners with the IOC, splitting the television and sponsorship money, with the host cities generally receiving about half and with the rest divided among the IOC, national Olympic committees, and international federations. (NBC's payment alone for the rights to the Turin Games is $613 million as part of the network's $5.7 billion package for the Winter and Summer Games from 2000 to 2012.)
US Olympic officials indicated London's success in landing the 2012 Games exposed serious flaws in America's competitive practices. London's cause, for example, was championed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who worked aggressively to sell the city, while New York failed to receive similar help from top US government officials and finished fourth among the five competing cities.
''The government has to decide what role it will play," DeFrantz said. ''In every other country, the government says, `We're with the organizing committee.' We haven't necessarily had that."
Uncertainty about America's ability to land another Games has prompted US Olympic officials to step back a bit. With Beijing (2008) and London hosting the next two Summer Games and Vancouver preparing for the Winter Games in 2010, Americans have not entered the bidding for the 2014 Winter Games. And despite early interest in the 2016 Summer Games from cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, the Olympic committee has yet to participate.
''We don't know whether it will be 2016, 2018, 2020, or 2022, but before we go forward with another bid, we have to know the landscape will allow for a US city to be competitive," USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said. ''We need to have a strong international relations strategy and unified effort from the highest levels of government or we're not going to waste the time, energy, and resources of a city."
If that's the case, Porter indicated, he hopes softball returns to the Olympics before the Games return to America. Both softball and baseball are scheduled to be dropped after Beijing.
''The American public needs to know what's happening," Porter said. ''Why are we spending so much money to support the Olympics and yet so many young athletes will be denied an opportunity to participate in them?"
D'Alessandro suggested a reason.
''You don't earn respect in the Olympic movement with your money," he said. ''You earn respect with your behavior."
