WASHINGTON — The U.S. Olympic Committee on Sunday elected Sandra Baldwin as the organization's president, the first woman to hold the position.
Over the years, the 61-year-old Baldwin has broken barriers with ho-hum regularity. But Sunday, when she defeated Paul George by 108 votes to 96, in the USOC election for president, she understood the importance of the history she made. Of the organization's 21 previous presidents, all were men, even though women have dominated America's Olympic medal count since the early 1980s.
"When I was elected president of U.S. swimming, I was the first woman president of any Olympic sport that was not an all-women's sport," said Baldwin, who led USA Swimming from 1982 to 1984. "When I ran, the father of U.S. swimming, Bill Lippman, said, 'I don't know if swimming is ready for a woman.' I said, 'Bill, I don't know either, but they're ready for me.' "
Baldwin is in charge of restoring the image of a large volunteer-based organization mired in dysfunction, tainted by the Salt Lake City bidding scandal and criticized for its drug-testing programs.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee president Mitt Romney welcomed the election of Baldwin, a member of the SLOC board.
"We are very excited about the choice of Sandy Baldwin as new chairman of USOC. She is one of the most active board members at SLOC. She is dynamic and visionary. Her leadership is just what the doctor ordered. . . . Of all the USOC members on SLOC, she has attended nearly every meeting — more than all the others combined."
For the moment, Baldwin will not have a permanent chief executive officer by her side.
The former chief executive, Norm Blake, hired for his ability to streamline corporations, resigned in October after 10 tumultuous months. Scott Blackmun, the organization's former general counsel, has been the interim chief executive, but the board of directors decided Sunday, on the final day of its meetings, to postpone an appointment until the January meetings. The members will then decide whether to name Blackmun or begin a national search.
After graduating from the University of Colorado, Baldwin went home to run her family's farm before getting her Ph.D. in English at Arizona State. She spent 11 years as a professor there until she left her tenured existence and started a real-estate firm. As a single mother, during the double-digit interest rates of the early '80s, Baldwin carved out a niche as a successful businesswoman.