Streeter, acting head of USOC, to step down

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Six months of shaky decisions and turmoil came to a head for the U.S. Olympic Committee on Wednesday when its acting CEO said she would step down, bringing more chaos to an organization that was humiliated when Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Games fell flat.

Stephanie Streeter said she would not seek the USOC’s CEO job on a permanent basis, and that she would leave in the next five months.

The decision came just five days after Chicago’s humbling, first-round exit in a vote by International Olympic Committee members, who ultimately picked Rio de Janeiro. It also happened on the same day leaders of America’s Olympic sports organizations said “No” in a 40-0 vote to this question on a survey they conducted: “Do you believe the acting CEO has the ability to be an effective leader of the Olympic movement?”

The United States contributes more money to the Olympics than any other nation, yet the USOC is rife with infighting and turnover, perceived internationally as arrogant, and populated with leaders who are having trouble turning things around.

“I’m incredibly saddened by the developments, which I lay largely at the feet of the USOC, which has clearly lost its way,” said NBC Universal Sports and Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol. “It’s a combination of people who don’t have a full-time commitment to it, too many people who really don’t have an understanding of international sports and relationships. I don’t believe there will be another Olympics in the U.S. until the USOC really gets its act together.”

USOC Chairman Larry Probst conceded that turning around the group’s international reputation is not a one- or two-year project. “I’m talking 10, 15, 20 years,” he said.

Chicago’s elimination in the first round was universally viewed as an embarrassment, and one of the biggest surprises ever handed down by IOC voters. One IOC member, Denis Oswald of Switzerland, went so far as to call it “a defeat for the USOC, not for Chicago.”

The USOC will hire a national recruiting firm by the end of the month to search for Streeter’s replacement. The next CEO will be the third to sit in that chair in the span of about a year. The latest upheaval began in March when Jim Scherr was forced out after six years of relative stability and success.

Scherr, himself, has been approached by people in the movement to gauge his interest in a return. He acknowledged the small chance of that idea going anywhere but didn’t rule out considering it.

“It’s possible under the right circumstances,” he said.

Ebersol said good candidates would be people with connections to major Olympic sports — such as swimming, gymnastics, skiing — with experience in marketing, international relations and the sports world.