Do you see THE GREAT ONE, Barack Hussein Obama’s, colossal Olympic FAILURE as HIS fault, Mm, mmm, mm?

Critics Assail U.S.O.C. After Chicago’s Loss

By KATIE THOMAS, RICHARD SANDOMIR and JULIET MACUR

Published: October 3, 2009

This article was reported by Katie Thomas, Richard Sandomir and Juliet Macur, and written by Ms. Thomas.

For weeks, the United States Olympic Committee and the national sports governing bodies it oversees had settled into an uncomfortable truce. Despite a year of upheaval and conflict, the parties had agreed to set aside their differences in solidarity for Chicago’s bid to win the 2016 Summer Games.

The truce ended as quickly as Chicago was dispatched from the race won by Rio de Janeiro. In surprisingly frank terms, a number of influential people in American Olympic sports questioned the performance of the U.S.O.C.’s new management team and said its two top executives were ill-equipped to navigate the insular world of international sports.

Chicago’s last-place finish in the I.O.C. voting on Friday in Copenhagen was the latest blow in a year marked by the departure of major sponsors, layoffs at U.S.O.C. headquarters, controversy over the salary of the acting chief executive, and the failed plan for an Olympic television network.

“Before we think about putting forth another Olympic city for a Games possibility, we’ve got to deal with some outstanding issues that are not going to go away,” said Mike Plant, who serves on the U.S.O.C.’s 10-member board and traveled to Copenhagen as part of the Chicago delegation. “I think that certainly there will be some dialogue that’s going to take place in the next couple of weeks — or certainly in short order.”

Asked what should happen next to return the U.S.O.C. to prominence in international circles, James Ravannack, the president of USA Wrestling, said: “Resignations. It’s an absolute embarrassment. I don’t know what else to tell you. Where is the leadership?”

Patrick G. Ryan, the bid leader for Chicago, said his staff’s relationship with the U.S.O.C. could not have been better. He said regional bloc voting, not the U.S.O.C., caused the bid’s downfall.

“I think people look for an excuse when something happens,” he said. “They look to finger-point, and now the finger-pointing is at the U.S.O.C. It’s a simple thing to do the day after.”

Since the end of the Beijing Olympics, most of the top positions at the U.S.O.C. have changed hands. Last October, Larry Probst, the chairman of the video-game publisher Electronic Arts, replaced Peter Ueberroth as the committee’s chairman. In March, Probst and the board removed the chief executive, Jim Scherr, and appointed a board member, Stephanie A. Streeter. The executives in charge of sport performance, marketing and human resources were also replaced.

The turnover angered many leaders of the national governing bodies of Olympic sports, who chafed at the corporate backgrounds of Probst and Streeter and their lack of Olympic experience. The relationship further soured when it was revealed that the board had approved an annual salary of $560,000 for Streeter — a 30 percent increase over Scherr’s — months after 54 employees were laid off.

Probst has said the board will begin a search this month to replace Streeter, whose term as acting chief executive runs through next year’s Paralympics. She has not said whether she will apply for the permanent position.

Probst and Streeter, who were in Copenhagen, were contacted through their representatives, but did not return calls.

Skip Gilbert, the chairman of the Association of Chief Executives for Sport, which includes 45 Olympic sport bodies in the United States, said his members had been waiting for the vote on Chicago before voicing concern over the U.S.O.C.’s management.

“Now’s the time that we’re going to build some consensus as to what do we think is the next move in order to right the ship,” Gilbert said. One item high on the agenda, he said, is whether to recommend a change in leadership.

Several leaders in Olympic sports praised the Chicago bid as the best that an American city had put forward in decades. But Chicago’s elimination in the first round exposed the U.S.O.C.’s lack of influence. Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, likened the Games to a crown jewel.

“You’ve got to know that the people you’re going to be giving your crown jewels to are the most trustworthy partners that you could ever ask for,” he said. “And unfortunately, when you don’t have stability in your leadership, how can you build trust?”

Some wondered whether Probst and Streeter hurt Chicago’s chances when they failed to show up to a meeting of I.O.C. members in Lausanne, Switzerland, where host cities were invited to make presentations.

“You look back at it and think that it might have been a better decision for them to go,” said James Easton, an I.O.C. member who is on the U.S.O.C. board.

Members of the U.S.O.C.’s international relations division have flown more than a million miles on outreach