A diverse USOC board may increase Chicago’s chances

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Bob Ctvrtlik began to look like a successor to Peter Ueberroth three years ago.

After the July, 2005 vote for the 2012 Summer Games in which New York finished next-to-last, Ctvrtlik addressed the reasons for that defeat with a combination of frankness and statesmanship that garnered my attention to leadership qualities about the Olympic volleyball gold medalist that had not previously been evident.

He clearly attracted Ueberroth’s attention as well. Nine months later, the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors, which Ueberroth chairs, named Ctvrtlik to a new USOC position: vice president, international affairs. Ctvrtlik moved into an international relations office near Ueberroth’s corporate office in Southern California.

Ueberroth’s term as a USOC board member and chairman ends in October. (His replacement on the board already has been named).

There is no timetable to name a new chair.

But as things stand now, it cannot be Ctvrtlik for two years, unless:

--A current board member suddenly resigns. The chair has to come from the board, and Ctvrtlik’s term ended when his term as an International Olympic Committee member ended at the Beijing Olympics. All IOC members from the United States are automatically members of the now 10-person USOC board.

--The board makes the unlikely decision to drag out the chair selection process until 2010, when its next vacancies occur.

--The board waits long enough for Ctvrtlik to become an IOC member again, which could not happen before the next IOC general assembly in October, 2009.

Given all that, it is sensible to forget about Ctvrtlik for now, and it is nearly impossible to read tea leaves about a leading candidate from the current membership, which has become, with few exceptions, a famously closed-mouth group.

Jair Lynch?

He is an Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics and a developer who formed his own company. He is widely called ‘politically connected’ in Washington. All that before he turns 37 next week.

Lynch also is African American, and it could help Chicago’s 2016 bid chances if the USOC leader during the final year of the bid process clearly showed a U.S. Olympic commitment to diversity. (Ctvrtlik, USOC CEO Jim Scherr, USOC international relations chief Robert Fasulo and the most prominently visible Chicago 2016 officials –- Patrick Ryan, Doug Arnot, Bill Scherr and Mayor Richard M. Daley -– all are white men.)

Anita DeFrantz?

DeFrantz, 55, also African American, is an Olympic bronze medalist in rowing, a 22-year IOC member, a law school graduate, the longtime president of the LA84 Foundation and one of the leading women in the sports world. Yet over the years she has acquired detractors, as evidenced by her receiving only 6 of 92 possible votes in the 2007 elections for the IOC executive board.

Symbolism should not be the critical factor in picking the chairman, and it would be insulting to Lynch and DeFrantz, both of whom have impressive leadership and sports credentials, to suggest that would be the reason for either’s election.

But the Olympics has an undeniable symbolic character in its fundamental principles, which include words like ‘mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship.’

Realpolitik also plays a role here. London 2012 came to the IOC voters for the final presentation with a multi-ethnic, multi-racial group of men and women as its presenters. The Paris presentation was made by a bunch of middle-aged white men. London won by a 4-vote margin.

To its credit, the USOC board already is a strikingly diverse group, with four women and three African Americans. Why not have a chairman who exemplifies that?

-- Philip Hersh

*Update: Where it was mentioned Ctvrtlik moved into an office, it was not in the same building as Ueberroth’s corporate office in Southern California, only near it.

Top photo: Bob Ctvrtlik at the 1996 Olympics, after his team beat Argentina in preliminary play in men’s volleyball. Credit: Roberto Borea / AP