Anita DeFrantz won't be allowed to sit in on meetings of the International Olympic Committee's powerful executive board despite her argument that an American needs to be there through the 2002 Winter Games.
"I have the greatest experience of anyone on the hosting of Games in the United States as it relates to the IOC so I'm sad that my experience won't be utilized during these last two meetings," DeFrantz said Friday.
Reached in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she is attending the world championships in rowing, DeFrantz said she received a fax from new IOC President Jacques Rogge informing her no observers would be permitted at the executive board meetings.
She said she will not appeal the decision. "I'm available at any time, and I will continue to work. I've committed to work for the Olympic movement in any way that I can. This is one way I'm not allowed to. Nor is any one."
DeFrantz's term as the only U.S. member of the elected group that makes most of the IOC's key decisions ended in July. She had served as first vice president but came in last in the five-way race to succeed former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.
She made her request to continue coming to board meetings as a nonvoting member earlier this month and discussed it briefly with Rogge during his visit to Salt Lake City two weeks ago. Under Samaranch, a number of IOC members were invited to the meetings.
DeFrantz said her experience with the past two Olympics in the United States — the 1984 Summer Games in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles and the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta — would help the executive board deal with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
The U.S. Olympic Committee backed her effort to stay on the executive board, especially since it came at a time when concerns are being raised about a decline in America's influence in the international Olympic movement.
Organizers of the 2002 Games, however, said it is more important for SLOC President Mitt Romney to maintain a good relationship with Rogge than to have a U.S. representative on the executive board.
"It's a decision for the IOC to make," SLOC spokeswoman Caroline Shaw said. "As we've said all along, what's important for our Games is the CEO-to-CEO relationship between Mitt Romney and President Rogge, which is off to an excellent start following his visit to Salt Lake."
DeFrantz said Friday "it's impossible to know" whether the 2002 Games will suffer without her presence at the executive board meetings.
The next IOC executive board meetings are scheduled in September and December at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Romney is expected to update the board on Games preparations via a video link in September and in person in December.
Both the executive board and the full membership of the IOC will meet in Salt Lake City before the 2002 Games begin on Feb. 8. At that time, the United States is expected to field a candidate for a spot that will open up on the executive board.
The Associated Press reported that Rogge said DeFrantz could attend presentations by the organizing committee. She said Friday she does not know if she will.
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