Ted Stevens Memorial; China's Medal Mastermind

USOC Pays Respects to Ted Stevens

U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun will be among the dignitaries at Wednesday’s memorial service for Ted Stevens, the former U.S. Senator whose name is attached to the federal law chartering the USOC – and protecting the trademarks of the Olympic rings in the U.S.

Stevens, 86, died last week with four other passengers on a small plane heading to a fishing camp in Alaska. He left the Senate in 2008 after 40 years in office, the longest-serving Republican member in the history of the upper house.

Stevens took the lead in the creation of the U.S. Olympics and Amateur Sports Act in 1978 and its revisions through the years. Blackmun says the USOC misses the influence Stevens wielded in Washington.

"Senator Stevens was a huge supporter of ours, for a long, long time. We don’t have that kind of relationship with anybody like that on the [Capitol] Hill – today," Blackmun said in Singapore before leaving the Youth Olympic Games to travel to the service.

Blackmun says the formation this year of a U.S. Olympic Caucus in the Congress is a step towards building a new base of legislative power for the USOC.

The service at the Anchorage Baptist Temple marks the end of three days of official mourning in Alaska for Stevens. He is legendary for the federal largesse he managed to steer to the state.

Man Behind China’s Beijing Performance Retires

An architect of China’s commanding Beijing medal haul has retired, state media reported Wednesday.

Deputy sports minister Cui Dalin was in charge of the country’s competitive sports for the four-year run-up to the 2008 Olympics.

Cui regularly downplayed China’s chances leading up to the Games, then called its gold medal-leading performance "an historic breakthough".

China won 51 gold and 100 total medals in Beijing. Only the U.S. (110) took home more.

Dalin’s successor has yet to be announced.

Swimming Champs Double as Progress Report

The Pan Pacific Championships are underway in Irvine, California, giving the world’s top swimmers a chance to measure their progress ahead of London 2012.

Michael Phelps will race four individual events at 2010’s lone major international competition.

The quadrennial meet is also a test of new rules banning the full-body suits that yielded 43 world records at the 2009 world championships in Rome.

Events run through Sunday.

Handball League Supports Munich 2018

The German Handball Bundesliga is backing Munich 2018, the bid committee announced Wednesday.

The two will launch their partnership Tuesday, when THW Kiel and HSV Hamburg kick off the league’s season at Munich’s Olympic Hall.

World Champion Heiner Brand and THW player Dominik Klein are bid ambassadors.

Sochi VP to Brief Summit On Olympic Prep

Igor Stolyarov, Sochi 2014's vice president for marketing and commercial operations, was confirmed Wednesday as a speaker at the Sponsors Sports Venue Summit taking place at the Allianz Arena in Munich next month.

Stolyarov, who has held leading positions at companies such as Coca-Cola, Duracell and Gillette, as well as at Russian telecoms giant MTS, will provide an update on the state of preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort.

IOC vice president Thomas Bach and Craig Reedie, IOC member from Great Britain, are also among the 65 speakers scheduled to present at the Sept. 1-2 event.

U.S. Olympians Skate, Slide Out of Court

U.S. figure skating Olympian Nicole Bobek will serve five years’ probation for her role in a methamphetamine drug ring in New Jersey.

She pleaded guilty to the court June 18 and was sentenced Monday.

Bobek, 32, skated at the Nagano Olympics, where she finished 17th.

In a Canadian court, assault charges are dropped against U.S. Olympic bobsledder Bill Allen Schuffenhauer. In exchange, he will attend counseling sessions. Schuffenhauer was accused of assaulting his fiancée during the Vancouver Games.

Written by Matthew Grayson and Ed Hula.