USOC Taps New Chief Executive-Updated

(ATR) The U.S. Olympic Committee is poised to name Scott Blackmun as its next CEO, sources tell Around the Rings.

Blackmun, 52, is an attorney in Colorado Springs and formerly served as USOC counsel as well as acting CEO.

A formal announcement from the USOC is scheduled for Wednesday morning at USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs.

"There will be no learning curve required for him. He knows how the Olympic business works," USA Luge President Dwight Bell tells Around the Rings.

Bell was the chef de mission for the U.S. team to the Salt Lake City Winter Games and worked with Blackmun in the leadup to 2002.

"He's not flamboyant. He projects a very good demeanor. He's not afraid to put the Olympic Movement and his consituencies in front," says Bell.

Blackmun will take over from Stephanie Streeter, a former member of the USOC Board of Directors who became interim CEO in March when Jim Scherr left the post under pressure from the USOC board. Streeter elected not to seek the CEO position on a permanent basis.

Blackmun was reported to be one of two finalists for the job. Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming was said to be the other candidate.

Blackmun will return to a USOC suffering from a reputation of leadership instability and seemingly waning presence on the international scene.

After leaving the USOC in 2001, Blackmun became Chief Operating Officer for the Anschutz Entertainment Group in Los Angeles. In 2006 he returned to Colorado to the law firm of Holme Roberts and Owen, the firm where he began practicing law in 1982. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Dartmouth College.

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Written by Ed Hula.