News from the NOCs -- New USOC Chair, South Africa Checks Swim Abuse Claims

USOC Set to Select New Chair

Finding a successor to U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth will be on the agenda when the USOC board of directors meets Oct. 2 by telephone. The unscheduled meeting comes 10 days before the board is to meet in Orlando to name a new chair.

Ueberroth, who has served since 2004, has vowed to hold a single term and will remain on the board in a non-voting capacity as chairman emeritus.

At least four names are surfacing in speculation over who will take his place: current board members Mike Plant, an executive with the Atlanta Braves and a past president of USA Cycling; Anita DeFrantz, senior IOC member in the U.S.; new board member Larry Probst, executive with Electronic Arts; and Xerox president Ursula Burns, also a new board member.

The USOC board is expected to discuss the selection process in its Oct. 2 conference call, along with preparations for next week’s meeting of the Pan American Sports Organization in Acapulco and the Oct. 10 to 12 USOC Olympic Assembly in Orlando.

Swimming South Africa Launches Investigation

Former South African team swimmer Kirsten van Heerden and water polo player Rowan Meth will be part of the team investigating allegations of abuse and misconduct within Swimming South Africa.

The commission, led by Norman Arendse, will hold hearings for swimmers on Oct. 2 and for coaches and officials on Oct. 3.

Some of the claims being investigated include reports that coach Dick Lange hit swimmer Shaun Harris and that team manager Rushdee Warley instructed Jean-Marie Neethling not to speak to Afrikaans.

Lange announced this week that he would opt not to renew his contract, which expires at the end of this year.

Arendse has said that the commission has received a fair amount of response, and was taking the necessary steps to protect their privacy.

“We want to encourage more people to come out, and if they are concerned about victimization, we want to assure them they will have protection.”

Arendse also stressed that the investigation would examine all of the statements and testimony closely.

"One is unable to decide on the veracity of the allegations, and obviously that needs to be tested. There are allegations, counter-allegations, denials. These submissions weren’t made under oath, we’ll have to inquire a bit more.”

Vietnam NOC Makes Pledge for Unsettled Laos Games

The Vietnam Olympic Committee will help Laos organize at least 11 competitions at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, according to a report from the Vietnam News Agency.

The VOC general secretary made the announcement after a weekend meeting in Hanoi with Laos games organizers, the report continues.

The story comes amid regional reports of problems with the games sports schedule and facilities.

Only 22 sports are confirmed on the schedule, down from the 25 projected last December, though there may be a reprieve for a handful of sports. Basketball, cycling, archery and gymnastics are among those absent. The 2007 games in Thailand featured 43 sports.

"Laos has very limited sport venues and we understand if they remove some of the sports," says Husain Al-Musallam, director general of the Olympic Council of Asia.

"The final decision is for the organizer, based on the sport venue, the sport programs, the television host broadcaster, IT and protocol," he tells ATR.

The Philippines have proposed Thailand host the basketball tournament, rather than see one of their top events axed.

Most of the events will take place at a new multisport complex, compliments of China. The Laos National Sports Complex just outside of Vientiane comes with a price tag of some $70 million, paid for by China and built by some 1,400 Chinese workers plus some 400 Laotians, according to an inspection report by the Olympic Council of Malaysia. The OCM report claims the complex is about half done.

"There are however no facilities for skeet and trap events in the shooting range. Whether the equipment for skeet and trap will be added later is uncertain," notes the report.

"Provision of the competition surfaces, such as the running track for athletics, and other sports and sports equipment has not commenced," it continues.

NOC Briefs…

The NOC for Belgium is seeking an opinion from its ethics specialists, after a newly retired sprinter accuses a committee vice president of encouraging doping in 1998. "Given the seriousness of the allegations by Erik Wijmeersch against Dr. Renno Roelandt, the president of the Belgian Interfederal Olympic Committee, Pierre-Oliver Beckers, is asking the COIB ethics commission to address this issue. “An opinion will be submitted as soon as possible to the COIB board so that it can take a position," reads a new committee statement. The statement comes a day after Roelandt said in a Belgian newspaper that Beckers advised him to resign over the sprinter's allegations.

The allegations first surfaced last week when Wijmeersch declared that he took advice from Roelandt to take human growth hormones from the time of the 1998 European Championships until 2001. Wijmeersch promises more revelations about what he calls the hypocrisy in Belgian sport in a book about him to be published next month. Roelandt's lawyer has publicly called the allegations "lies." Roelandt is a member of WADA.

Telecoms company Swisscom renews its support for Switzerland NOC and commits more to the committee's annual Gigathon. The Gigathon, a five-sport adventure and endurance race, next takes place in 2009, now with Swisscom as an event partner. Swisscom's Leading Partner relationship with the NOC includes both cash and value in kind. Both deals last through 2012.

Written by Ed Hula, Maggie Lee and Trista McGlamery

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