WORLD SPORTS SCENE / RANDY HARVEY : Ueberroth May Be the Choice for IOC Spot

Almost two years after the search began for a second International Olympic Committee member from the United States, one name persists: Peter Ueberroth.

The most recent Sport Intern, a monthly newsletter from Germany devoted to international sports, reported that IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch prefers Ueberroth.

Because Sport Intern is at least partially financed by the IOC, the report carries some weight, although Samaranch said during a meeting with reporters here Saturday that he will not make a decision until he receives U.S. Olympic Committee recommendations. A list of names will be in his hands by the end of the year, USOC President LeRoy Walker promised.

Samaranch twice before submitted Ueberroth’s name and both times was rebuffed by the IOC membership, many of whom were resentful that the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee chief did not bow down to them during the 1984 Summer Games.

But Kevan Gosper, an IOC vice president from Australia, said he believes the members, almost half of whom have been elected since 1984, would be receptive to Ueberroth. “I think everyone recognizes the contribution he has made to the Olympic movement,” Gosper said.

Even so, Samaranch should not expect to see Ueberroth on the USOC’s list. Many influential USOC members remain resistant to him because they say he has had almost zero involvement in the Olympic movement since the closing ceremony in Los Angeles.

“We hope His Excellency (Samaranch) won’t pick someone with a high profile who hasn’t been an active member of the family, someone who isn’t involved in the real issues,” USOC Treasurer Sandra Baldwin said, specifically mentioning Ueberroth.

But because USOC members have not been able to agree upon a list of candidates acceptable to the IOC, there was some sentiment during the U.S. Olympic Congress here last week that they should withdraw from the process and tell Samaranch to choose whomever he prefers.

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Oddly enough, USOC Executive Director Harvey Schiller might have a better chance of winning support from within the USOC for the IOC position if he becomes baseball commissioner. According to Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, a USOC vice president, Schiller is a leading contender.

Some USOC executive committee officials have been reluctant to endorse Schiller, saying that his potential dual role as USOC executive director and an IOC member could create conflict-of-interest issues. But that argument would disappear if he no longer were USOC executive director.

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Five weeks after Sydney, Australia, was chosen to organize the 2000 Summer Olympics, the IOC begins looking ahead to its next critical vote in less than two years for the site of the 2002 Winter Games.

If the balloting were today, the choice would be clear: Salt Lake City.

“It’s theirs to lose,” said IOC executive board member Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles.

The IOC conceded that Salt Lake City had the best bid two years ago for the 1998 Winter Games and finished second to Nagano, Japan, by a narrow margin only because another U.S. city, Atlanta, was selected the year before to stage the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Salt Lake City’s bid this time is considered so formidable that only one other candidate, Quebec City, has come forward. Two others, one Swedish, one Swiss, are expected to announce soon, but they are believed to be merely introducing themselves so that they will be in position to make serious bids for 2006.

Dick Pound, an IOC executive board member from Canada who supports Quebec City for obvious reasons, said Salt Lake City has a “huge head start.”

But he also called upon IOC history in warning that leaders so early in the campaign often have found that they have only one way to go.

“It seems that nobody likes a front-runner,” he said. “You have to keep pulling rabbits out of the hat.”

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Only a year and a half before the 1995 Pan American Games are scheduled for Argentina, a USOC site-inspection committee found it necessary to report last week that “we truly feel as though the Games will be held.”

There was some doubt. Mario Vasquez Rana of Mexico, president of the Pan American Sports Organization, was prepared to move the Games to Winnipeg until the Argentines came across with a $250,000 payment to PASO as part of a quickly arranged $1-million joint-marketing deal and agreed to move nine sports from the original site, Mar del Plata, to Buenos Aires.

Notes

John Argue, the driving force behind bringing the 1984 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles, will be awarded the Olympic Order, the IOC’s highest award, in a ceremony at the Amateur Athletic Foundation in Los Angeles next July 16. Former USOC Executive Director Baaron Pittenger, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and NBC sports head Dick Ebersol received Olympic Orders from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch here Saturday.

Janet Evans was the world leader in swimming’s 400-meter freestyle this year with a best of 4:05.85. But moving up fast was China’s Zhou Guanbin, who improved by 16 seconds over last year to 4:10.56. “If she improves by another 16 seconds next year, I’m retiring,” Evans said. . . . Betty Watanabe said last week she is leaving her position as executive director of U.S. Synchronized Swimming.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister has objected to the IOC’s provisional recognition of Palestine, but Samaranch said he received a supportive letter from Israel’s Olympic Committee. Palestinian athletes probably will compete for the first time in Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Games. . . . . . . David Wolper, who produced the spectacular opening and closing ceremony in Los Angeles, is assisting Atlanta in finding a producer for its ceremony.