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Dysfunction Run Amuck
Part VI: Overstepping by USATF Board Members and Conflicts of Interest
Posted December 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
This is Part VI in TheFinalSprint.com’s seven-part series titled “Dysfunction Run Amuck: USA Track & Field and the Need for Change”. To catch up on the preceding installments and/or to view the publication timeline for the final parts in the series, please scroll to the bottom of this article.
Overstepping by USATF Board Members
A major problem with having a bloated board of directors is that its members tend to venture into administrative areas instead of limiting themselves to focusing on the big picture, as they’re supposed to do. Two high-profile deals, in Birmingham and Eugene, illustrate the point admirably.
It has become practice for the organizing committee for each Olympic Games to help nearby cities provide training facilities for national teams from all over the world. The way the Olympic marketing rights are supposed to work is to have the Olympic organizing committee compile a list of “approved training camp cities” and announce those cities during the preceding Olympic Games. The announcement, according to the UK’s The Herald, acts as “the starting pistol in the race to attract teams and sports.”
That article, published on last February 20, reported, “Birmingham City Council has scooped the jewel in the [London Olympics training camp] crown, the American athletics team. A memorandum of understanding was signed during the indoor athletics international there on Saturday. Stephanie Hightower, the former international hurdler who is now chair of USA [Women’s] Track & Field, signed the memorandum with Birmingham Council leader Mike Whitby.”
The only problem was that the USATF national office knew nothing about the deal, and had no inkling that it was in the works until thenewspaper report of February 20. Though the memo of understanding was not binding on USATF, it could have been a major embarrassment if USATF’s national staff decided to cancel the deal.
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